Village of Plainfield, Ill., upgrades pump station
The Village of Plainfield, Ill., recently
unveiled their much-anticipated water pumping station located on
127th street that supplies Lake Michigan water to area
residents.
Located 35 miles southwest of Chicago, Plainfield is one of the
fastest growing communities in the State of Illinois. Back in
2001 and facing a 2003
Environmental Protection Agency mandate that all well water
comply with its strict radium-free water quality standards,
the Village needed to decide whether to continue using the
current deep well system or abandon the wells and bring in Lake
Michigan water.
The village had three options to comply with the EPA’s order to
remove the radium by December 2003: install a central ion
exchange system that softens the water; install a lime softening
system; or pump in Lake Michigan water.
Each of the options would result in higher water bills. The ion
exchange system would raise the average monthly household bill
from $19.70 to $32; Lake Michigan water would raise it to
$44.80; and the lime softening treatment would raise it to
$53.40.
However staying with the deep-well system and keeping up with
demand would require drilling a new well every three years so
that by 2020, the village would have 15 deep wells. Eventually
the Village decided to go with Lake Michigan water and by April
of 2004, the community began receiving treated Lake Michigan
water as their source supply.
The Plainfield water system currently consists of one lake water
metering station, 2 miles of water transmission main, one
pressure station, one treatment facility, five water towers,
2,100 fire hydrants, and over 140 miles of water distribution
main. Three groundwater wells remain on standby status in the
event of an emergency.
The newest addition to their water system is a state-of-the-art
water pumping station that receives the Lake Michigan water,
stores it in a huge 5-million gallon reservoir and pumps it to
residents.
Working
with engineer Baxter and Woodman and Vissering Contracting,
Metropolitan Industries’ municipal south department headed by
Keith Girup supplied the pumps and generator, which are at the
heart of this station.
In total, this new pumping station uses seven Aurora split case
pumps ranging in horsepower from 100 up to 450 and gallons per
minute ranging 1730 to 5200. Plainfield has the ability to add
two pumps in the future as demand increases.
Pumps are
housed in a new brick structure that sits in front of the large
reservoir. Plans for a constructing a second 5-million gallon
reservoir is in the works for the same location.
In the event of a power failure, Metropolitan also supplied a large
600 kw Caterpillar diesel generator that will run the station
maintaining water pressure in the Village. The station will
automatically switch to standby power if an outage is detected
making the transition seamless.
Completion of this job caps a three-year effort that saw multiple sales
presentations, meetings and ultimately construction. Plainfield
officials discussed all possibilities but in the end chose
Metropolitan Industries, Inc. to supply the
pumps, generator and ancillary equipment.
