Project Description

In 2012 Little Rock Wastewater’s (LRW) capital improvement plan identified the need for an additional 51 million gallons of peak flow equalization storage in the area of the Scott Hamilton Industrial Park to mitigate sanitary sewer overflows within the City. The plan recommended a location for the project and estimated that it would cost on the order of $52 million to complete. Working with LRW, Hawkins-Weir Engineers determined that the storage could be constructed adjacent to their existing 30-million-gallon equalization basin within the industrial park for less than half of the projected project cost. Hawkins-Weir also identified a shift in the regulatory environment that enabled LRW to reduce the size of the new equalization basin to 31 million gallons by directing more flow through their Adams Field WWTP. Hawkins-Weir’s team worked closely with LRW on every aspect of this project including planning, design, zoning, and public relations. At the conclusion of the planning phase we co-presented with the Utility at multiple public meetings to build support for the project. As a part of the public relations effort our team also produced a short project video and a custom informational brochure. The major design aspects of this job were the design of the 31-million-gallon concrete lined equalization facility, an advanced odor control system, and the expansion of LRW’s peak flow pump station through the addition of an additional engine driven vertical turbine solids handling pump. This project was bid in August 2016. The low bid was submitted by Van Horn Construction in the amount of $13,667,900.00, approximately 75% below the original project budget. Construction on the project is expected to be complete ahead of schedule by the summer of 2018.