Hydraulic Evaluation - Joseph F. Donovan Water Treatment Plant, Kankakee, IL
The Joseph F. Donovan Water Treatment Plant in Kankakee, Illinois, treats water from the Kankakee River for potable use throughout the Kankakee Area. Peak system demands occasionally approach the hydraulic limit of the facility.
In order to make the most economical use of this facility, CIWC hired NIES Engineering, Inc., to evaluate the hydraulic performance of the plant and identify hydraulic restrictions. Elimination of these restrictions will become a part of CIWC's capital improvement program at the plant as the need for additional capacity arises.
NIES employed two computer models of the treatment plant in order to evaluate its hydraulic performance. Precise calculation of the hydraulics through pretreatment was essential, as there is only two feet of available fall from the mixing basins to the filters.
Initially, a spreadsheet model was generated to simulate the hydraulics from low lift pumping, through pretreatment and into the gravity filters. This model was run at increasing plant throughput and a hydraulic profile was generated for each flow rate. These progressive hydraulic profiles were used to illustrate the impacts of various bottlenecks throughout the plant.
From this data, a program of recommended improvements was generated. An intricate network of filter effluent piping required the use of a more sophisticated hydraulic model. NIES utilized Cybernet™ software to evaluate the performance of the filter effluent piping. This model was run at varying filter loading rates to optimize flow through the piping network.
Key Points
- Improved Efficiency
- Computer Modeling
- Logical Improvements
