Innovation, flexibility goals for new pump station, force main at University of Illinois

Massive high-rise student apartments in Champaign's Campustown strained how the Urbana & Champaign Sanitary District (UCSD) handled overflows, especially during intense storms. UCSD reached out to Fehr Graham to find a flexible solution for this area that could last 50 years or longer.

The Second Street Pump Station is a quadplex submersible station designed to push up to 5 million gallons a day (MGD) from downtown to a new gravity interceptor sewer in south Champaign that drains to the First Street Pump Station, which pumps up to 8 MGD to the Southwest Treatment Plant. About 4,600 linear feet of 20-inch force main runs through the heart of the University of Illinois campus. The system diverts nitrogen and phosphorus loads between two watersheds, protecting them from nutrient overload. We installed and integrated the largest capacity diesel pump (475 horsepower) of its kind in the Midwest at the First Street Pump Station to handle the additional flow from the Second Street Pump Station. These changes, along with decommissioning a pump station and improving a public park, came in on time and under budget.

A major element of success included how our team and stakeholders, including UCSD, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the City of Champaign and the Champaign Park District, coordinated the elements of the project. The ¼ mile of force main was installed in front of the State Farm Center, so the University could complete its own construction projects while most students were on summer break.

The final plan allowed UCSD to choose what level to maintain in the sewers during moderate storms and how much flow to receive at two treatment plants during major storms. Our team integrated UCSD'S two treatment plants and 29 pump stations through effective supervisory control and data acquisition system upgrades.

AT A GLANCE
» Coordinated with three other project consultants and several utility stakeholders.
» Assisted with right-of-way jurisdiction through three separate authorities.
» Evaluated bypass pump locations, alternative force main routes and capacity at another pump station and force main.
» Prepared preliminary and final design of Second Street Pump Station and the First Street Pump Station diesel dry-prime pump.
» Developed construction cost estimates.
» Administered financing, bidding and construction processes.
» Provided Resident Project Observation, final acceptance, and startup and commissioning.