CDM Smith Selected for Great Lakes Water Authority Pumping Station Improvements 

DETROIT – CDM Smith has been selected by the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) to deliver its North Service Center (NSC) Pumping Station Improve­ments Project. The 24 to 28-month contract is valued at $14.8 million and includes the design of two 10-million-gallon circular prestressed concrete tanks and a new 240-million gallons per day pump station for NSC.

GLWA supplies about forty percent of Michigan’s population with safe drinking water, in addition to serving effective and efficient wastewater services to about thirty percent of the state. The NSC has been a crucial part of GLWA’s infra­struc­ture and its water trans­mis­sion system dating back to the early 1960s. The water trans­mis­sion and distri­b­u­tion systems of GLWA have changed signif­i­cantly since the imple­men­ta­tion of the NSC, creating a need for updates and improve­ments with operational flexibility to meet current and future conditions. 

The first step in CDM Smith’s innovative strategy is “designing to normal” operating conditions and emergency conditions where it is most practical, meeting five different operating scenarios with varying up and downstream conditions for both normal and emergency conditions. Then, the team will optimize the balance between efficiency of operations and maintaining redundant supply feeds to the station, with the additional goal of eliminating the single points of failure to the station which will be identified during the preliminary design. The last step is replacing existing finished water reservoirs and a pumping station that is at the end of its service life with a revised design that utilizes axial flow control valves, which are better suited to perform the pressure control functions needed for this project while addressing potential cavitation issues.

CDM Smith was chosen for our engineering solutions and creativity, outside of the box ideas which address complex project goals, as well as our committed partnership, exceptional team and efforts to create a plan which fully captured GLWA’s needs. “We were able to propose a way where we can mix these flows and still meet all the different operating scenarios. The innovative ideas associated with eliminating the need to reduce the upstream pressure is going to save over $1 million of O&M cost a year just in energy savings alone,” said Ali Khraizat, client service leader. 

CDM Smith is a privately owned engineering and construc­tion firm providing legendary client service and smart solutions in water, environment, trans­porta­tion, energy, and facilities. Passionate about our work and invested in each other, we are inspired to think and driven to solve the world’s envi­ron­men­tal and infra­struc­ture challenges.