Project Provides Opportunities for Dewatering R&D

摘要

The Pearl River CSO Project Storage and Conveyance Tunnel in Lafayette IN offers opportunities for developing diverse and creative dewatering solutions. The City of Lafayette has been expanding its wastewater treatment facilities for over eight years in order to accommodate its increasing population. A solid manufacturing and college base, combined with a large medical presence makes the city a steadily growing environment, which in turn requires commensurate growth of its water and wastewater treatment facilities. "Conditions here are such that we had to develop new dewatering techniques to increase efficiencies and lower costs," says Tom Minihan, vice president of Midwest operations for Griffin Dewatering Corp. Tunneling operations for deep sewer dewatering is accomplished by designing systems that reduce engine horsepower requirements and reduce impact on the environment through the introduction of geotextile fabrics. "You don't remove any fine material from the ground as a result of using geotextile products," Minihan says, "and there is no turbidity in the discharge water". Combining today's geotextile filter products with eductor well technology allow us to pull water from stratified soils and thus go 60+ feet deep without using a large pump."