The Gulf Coast Water Authority (GCWA) retained LAN to perform two evaluations of the Joseph A. Willhelm Industrial Pump Station (IPS), which was initially constructed in 1949 with three pumps. These evaluations resulted in feasible rehabilitation project alternatives and determined the risks associated with rehabilitation far outweighed the risks associated with constructing a new pump station on the existing site. Based on this risk analysis and the inability of GCWA’s customers to tolerate a shutdown of any reasonable duration to effect repairs, it was decided to proceed with the design and construction of a new pump station on the existing IPS site (PER Alternative 1), with the IPS in operation throughout construction.

LAN provided professional design and construction engineering services for the new pump station. This work included: performing a transient analysis of existing transmission mains and design of surge relief facilities; site civil design of drainage and utility improvements; truck access and other miscellaneous site improvements; design of a new intake structure to accommodate three existing 5-foot wide traveling screens and three new 8-foot wide traveling screens; relocation of the nine existing vertical turbine pumps; new steel pump discharge and header piping, including pump control valves, isolation valves and other appurtenances; cathodic protection for buried metal piping and appurtenances; a new pump building; demolition of the existing pump building and above grade pump discharge piping; and electrical instrumentation and controls.