Cost: $63.5 million
Location: White & Carroll counties, Ind.
Year: 2014-12-15
Size: 2,838 acres; 100-plus miles of shoreline
Owner: Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District
Designers: Reynolds Inc., Clyde E. Williams & Associates, RheinBach Eng., GRW Eng.
Contractor: Reynolds Inc., HRP Construction, Rothenberger Construction
In 2000, the Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District (TLRSD) set out to clean up Lake Freeman and Lake Shaffer, reservoirs of the Tippecanoe River in north-central Indiana. Failing septic systems were contaminating the lakes with E. coli, so the TLRSD was looking for an environmentally sound sewer alternative to improve public health and safety.
Because of the rural area’s rough terrain of water tables and bedrock, along with small towns and isolated homes, the TLRSD could not afford a traditional gravity system. Engineers instead opted for a $63 million low-pressure sewer system, which was not only less expensive than a gravity system, but also required shallow trenching and thus caused less environmental damage.
What resulted was the largest grinder pump-driven low-pressure sewer system in the Western Hemisphere. The TLRSD replaced deteriorating septic systems in 14 areas with this system to improve water quality. More than 180 miles of high-density polyethylene pipe cross the lakes eight times and the Tippecanoe River three times.
The project was completed in December 2013. Currently, 5,071 grinder pumps are in the system, servicing approximately 8,000 residential and commercial customers, with an expected flow capacity of 1.285 million gal per day delivered to four separate wastewater treatment plants in the area.
“The mere scale of the project is further indication of grinder pump-driven pressure sewers not being the alternative, but being the appropriate technology solution for more environmentally conscious communities moving forward,” said Eric Lacoppola, president of Environment One Corp.
Project Year: 2014-12-15Contractor: Reynolds Inc., HRP Construction, Rothenberger ConstructionDesigners: Reynolds Inc., Clyde E. Williams & Associates, RheinBach Eng., GRW Eng.Owner: Twin Lakes Regional Sewer DistrictLocation: White & Carroll counties, Ind.Cost: $63.5 millionSize: 2,838 acres; 100-plus miles of shoreline