Black & Veatch designed the Lake Pleasant Water Treatment Plant to blend seamlessly into the desert landscape without disturbing the area’s natural beauty. The desert location demanded an approach that treated the environment with care. To accomplish that, plant life and other native flora were preserved during construction in an on-site, five-acre nursery. To a great extent, the project used materials natural to the surroundings.
The plant uses latest technology to process 80-million-gallons-per-day (mgd) to serve customers in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is the first phase of a long-term master plan to provide a robust facility that has an ultimate capacity of 320 mgd.
The project – a collaboration with American Water Enterprises, Inc., and McCarthy Building Companies – used a design-build-operate method to finish on a fast track. A year-long design process aided in eliminating time between construction phases. That reduced a six-year project to four years. Phased permitting reduced the need for change orders. As a result, construction started two months early, and the city saved nearly $30 million.
Design and construction of the Lake Pleasant water treatment facility included a canal raw water intake structure and a raw water pumping station. A 90-inch diameter pipeline delivers raw water 2.3 miles from the source to the treatment site. Primary treatment included ballasted flocculation, deep bed filtration and chlorine disinfection. A combined high- and low-service finished water pump station is connected to 40 million gallons of finished water storage.
The facility’s residuals handling system includes mechanical dewatering using centrifuges and an on-site granular activated carbon regeneration facility. The addition of these components resulted in operations that minimize reliance on outside resources. It also minimizes transportation and generation of waste materials.
The project earned national honors from the Design-Build Institute of America and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It also received an Excellence in Partnering Award from the Associated General Contractors of America.
