Utility Breaks Ground on Muncie Project
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana American Water Co. has broken ground on a $12 million project in Muncie. The effort involves upgrades to equipment at a water treatment facility in the Delaware County city.
May 7, 2014
News Release
Muncie, Ind. — Indiana American Water, a subsidiary of American Water Company (NYSE: AWK), today joined Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler, community leaders and project partners at a ground-breaking ceremony for a major project to upgrade the company's water treatment facility located on the city’s southeast side. The $12 million project will replace antiquated and obsolete facilities and equipment at the plant that have been in service, in some cases, for more than a century.
“While these facilities have served the community well during the last century, the time has come to upgrade our Muncie water treatment plant so we can more efficiently and effectively serve our next generation of customers,” said Indiana American Water President Alan DeBoy. “The improvements we are making in our Muncie system, including those that are getting underway today at our treatment facility, will help us to address system challenges, inefficiencies and more stringent water quality regulations.
“Indiana American Water continually strives to provide quality water service to its customers all across the state,” DeBoy continued, “and the investments we are making in the Muncie area will help us to deliver on that commitment to our customers here.
“As a part of our approach to infrastructure investment, we are also continually developing and implementing strategies to manage our operating and maintenance (O & M) costs,” said DeBoy. “From 2010 to 2015 alone, we're forecasting a reduction in O & M costs statewide of more than $7 million. At less than a penny a gallon, water is still a great value for our customers.”
Improvements at the Muncie water treatment facility include construction of a new 1.25 million gallon clearwell tank and pump station that store and pump water into the distribution system after it has gone through the treatment process. The existing 1-million-gallon clearwell storage tank, constructed in 1906, has developed structural cracks and is in need of replacement. Pump station improvements include replacing four older high capacity pumps and related electrical equipment and disinfection chemical feed equipment with new state-of-the-art technology that will greatly enhance system reliability and efficiency. The project will also relocate the existing facilities out of the White River floodway.
The project, which will be placed in service by the end of 2014, is utilizing a design-build concept that brings together construction and design professionals in a collaborative effort to enhance the quality of the finished project and to more effectively control project costs. The design team of Hazen and Sawyer and River City Construction was selected to design and construct the new facilities.
In addition to the improvements at the Muncie treatment facility, the company has also invested approximately $2 million for improvements at the company’s Prairie Creek Reservoir and to replace four groundwater wells, the last of which will be placed in service this summer. The new wells will be capable of producing 2.3 million gallons of high quality groundwater each day—approximately one-third more than was previously available.
Three of the new wells replace existing wells that are more than 100 years old and were at the end of their useful life. The improvements also increase system reliability and efficiency with the installation of new electrical and pumping equipment at each well.
The additional capacity will supplement water normally withdrawn from the Prairie Creek reservoir. The new high quality groundwater, along with water from the reservoir, will be blended and treated at the Company’s treatment facility and delivered to customers.
In addition to enhancing system capacity, reliability and efficiency, the new wells also help ensure compliance with EPA water quality standards by reducing the likelihood of disinfection by-products in drinking water as a result of increasing the use of groundwater as a water source. Over the last several years, several water quality enhancements have been made to the Muncie system to comply with more stringent water quality regulations that went into effect in 2012, including the installation of numerous automatic main flushing devices that lower disinfection by-products that occur as a result of the water disinfection process.
Indiana American Water serves more than 27,000 customers in its Muncie service area or a population of nearly 75,000 people.
About Indiana American Water
Indiana American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to more than 1.2 million people. Founded in 1886, American Water (NYSE: AWK) is the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs approximately 6,600 dedicated professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 14 million people in more than 40 states and parts of Canada. More information can be found at www.amwater.com.
Source: Indian aAmerican Water