City of Beaumont: WWTP Improvements

As America’s infrastructure ages, increasing amounts of rehabilitation, upgrades, and replacement construction are required. Despite stringent maintenance, the City of Beaumont found itself with aging and outdated wastewater treatment facilities and equipment creating problems with handling the high flow demands of the city. SPI was retained to address these issues with a cost effective combination of solutions to various problems. Work consisted of three independent construction contracts.

In order to obtain needed capacity without going through the rigorous process necessary to increase effluent flow permit amounts, SPI designed and managed construction of a high flow equalization basin. This 64 million gallon equalization basin allows high influent flows to continue to enter the treatment process without overloading treatment facilities or exceeding existing permitted discharge levels. This eliminates the need to immediately construct additional treatment facilities.

Additionally, new influent screening was required to replace the existing mechanical units which would constantly break down due to high flows and heavy debris accumulation on the screen field. Three new 7 ft x 20 ft deep mechanical fine screens were installed to allow for efficient and improved removal of trash from the influent.

The final project involved replacement of the eight existing sludge pumps for the primary and final clarifier units. The replacement pumps were sized to allow for increased pumping volume as well as VFD control to allow for adjustment of pump rates as needed based on sludge volume. The piping for each pump station was also replaced and allowed for installation of bypass pumping by quick connects to the suction and discharge side of each unit.

This project was completed by the SPI Beaumont office.