Phoenix Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Named Public Works Project of the Year

Aug. 11, 2011
APWA’s Arizona Chapter presented the award this month at its annual conference
APWA’s Arizona Chapter presented the award this month at its annual conference

McCarthy’s Unified Plant Expansion (UP05B) project located at 91st Avenue in Phoenix was recently named Public Works Project of the Year in the environment category by the American Public Works Assn. (APWA) Arizona Chapter.

The UP05B expansion project, a 25.5-million-gal-per-day wastewater treatment plant, was also sent to APWA National to compete for the National Public Works Project of the Year. The APWA Arizona Chapter presented the award to the project team at its 2011 Statewide Conference on Aug. 9 at the Phoenix Convention Center. The award recognizes excellence in the partnership between the contractor, engineer and managing agency in working together to complete public works projects.

“We’re honored that this project has been recognized as the Public Works Project of the Year by the American Public Works Assn. Arizona Chapter,” said Shawn Ingram, McCarthy project director. “Working together with Malcolm Pirnie and the city of Phoenix, we created a one-team approach that allowed us not only to eliminate waste in project operations, but also develop a dynamic solution. The fact that it is now being considered for the national award is a testament to this true collaboration.”

The UP05B expansion project was initiated in 2005 as a five-city sub-regional operating group (SROG) agreement led by the city of Phoenix. It is an “end-of-line” facility for influent wastewater processing serving the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, Glendale, Scottsdale and Mesa. The new facility, which increases the capacity for processing influent wastewater, used the construction management at risk delivery method for the $106 million project and was completed under budget and earlier than expected.

Major aspects of the facility expansion included construction of grit influent and effluent channels; additional bar screen, grit cyclone and washers; a state-of-the-art odor control facility; construction of two primary and two secondary sediment basin; and process air blowers for two new aeration basins. The facility also received an expanded polymer building and chemical distribution enhancements.

“The level of coordination and communication by McCarthy on UP05B allowed for a large amount of work to be completed with minimal impact upon operations of the facility,” said Rick Shane, construction project manager for the city of Phoenix. “The advanced planning also afforded plant staff to continue with scheduled maintenance activities, as well as save money for our residents, a vital concern in these tough economic times.”

Construction of the project involved more than 500,000 man-hours over 2.5 years, peaking with 230 craft personnel on site per day. McCarthy performed 258,000 man-hours without a single recordable incident, and the overall project’s recordable rate for the entire workforce was less than 0.8.

Source: Newswire Today

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