Location: GLWA Southfield Service Center - Southfield, MI Concrete Contractor: D.N. Tanks Concrete Supplier: Superior Materials, LLC. Prime Supplier: Kososing Construction Design Engineer: Arcadis Owner: Great Lakes Water Authority
The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) draws water from Lake Huron and the Great Lakes tributary, the Detroit River to provide water to 112 communities in southeast Michigan. GLWA maintains and operates roughly $4 billion of infrastructure assets. The major components of GLWA’s water system include three intake facilities, 23 miles of raw water tunnels with sizes ranging from 120 to 186 inches in diameter, five treatment plants, 18 remote water booster stations, and a conveyance system of approximately 810 miles of water transmission main with an average age of 70 years. In addition, there are 30 water storage reservoirs, 14 of which are located at the water treatment plants (WTPs), and 16 located at booster stations. The maximum rated treatment capacity of the system is 1,720 million gallons per day (MGD) with a firm high service pumping capacity of 2,400 MGD. Water system flow and pressure are monitored and controlled remotely from the Systems Control Center located at the Central Services Facility.
Water storage tanks help GLWA’s member partner communities better provide water in case of emergencies and allow them to better manage their potable water demands. The water stored in the tank is then used during peak hours instead of drawing from the GLWA system, keeping costs lower for everyone.
This project included the construction of new replacement storage and pumping facility for the GLWA Southfield Service Center, including two 5-million-gallon potable water concrete storage tanks. Each of the tank base slabs was placed in a monolithic 1,500 cubic yard pour followed by two 400 cubic yard roof slab pours.
DN Tanks formed and built curved concrete tank wall sections on site, erected the wall panels, and shotcrete coated each tank on the exterior surfaces of the walls. Concrete columns were built inside the tanks to support the roof structure prior to pouring the roof.
