500,000 Gallon Elevated Water Storage Tank City of New Buffalo, MI
The City of New Buffalo, Michigan was using an old 100,000 gallon elevated tank to provide storage and fire flow capacity in a community with large seasonal variations in population, and water demand. The tank was in clear need of repairs, and appeared too small to adequately serve this growing community. In addition, because the system capacity was so low the plant clearwell could not be taken off-line for any period of time. This meant that some much-needed repairs at the Water Filtration Plant could not be undertaken.
NIES Engineering, Inc. conducted a Hydraulic Network Analysis (HNA) of the City's distribution system. The HNA confirmed the need for greater storage capacity as well as increased pressure to adequately serve new developments in the rolling terrain around New Buffalo. Careful analysis of the HNA results allowed NIES Engineering, Inc. to optimize the design of a new elevated storage tank to serve not only the existing customers, but anticipated developments as well. Once the City's new 500,000 gallon elevated storage tank was on line, the door was open for the other required system repairs.
The city now had sufficient operational flexibility to sandblast, repair, paint and install cathodic protection in their clearwell. Through careful attention to the City's needs, NIES Engineering helped New Buffalo not only meet their water storage requirements, but add to the system flexibility as well.
Key Points
- HNA Optimized Placement
- SCADA Pump Controller
- Overflow Set Through HNA Analysis
