Watershed Protection
Water Distribution System Resiliency Program (WDSRP)
The WDSRP is needed to rehabilitate and replace aging infrastructure, facilitate water quality compliance, and provide continuous water supply to DWM’s customers. The projects contained within the WDSRP address critical risks for the majority of DWM customers, including prioritized projects in Central Atlanta and South Fulton County. Projects included in this program are listed below and shown on the program map:
- Downtown Storage Tank
- Hemphill Steam Pump Station Upgrade
- Adamsville Pump Station Upgrade
- Fairburn Road Pipelines
The WDSRP enhances the reliability of DWM water service by addressing the operational resilience of critical components of the City’s water system. A key goal and intended benefit of the program is a continuous water supply with sustained pressures above 20 lbs/in2 (psi), necessary to preserve water quality and below which a Boil Water Advisory may be required by the State of Georgia. Water disruptions can negatively impact human health, especially for vulnerable demographics including children, the elderly, and low-income households. The City is the 10th largest US metropolitan area in terms of GDP, and interruptions at the Hemphill WTP can significantly impact the economic activity in the City and associated service area. In fact, interruptions in service can effectively shut down the City and have the potential to cause billions of dollars in economic losses to the region. While there is backup power at the Hemphill WTP, there is currently a risk that multiple surges could cause backup systems to fail; moreover, there is the threat of mechanical failures. In such an event, the DWM service area would be impacted, resulting in the need for Boil Water Advisories after a disruption in service as brief as 15 minutes. Implementation of the WDSRP would alleviate many of these risks.
Program Map
Project Name: The Downtown Storage Tank and Hemphill Steam Pump Station Rehabilitation
The Downtown Storage Tank and Hemphill Steam Pump Station Rehabilitation projects will provide emergency water storage and a back-up pump station for the Hemphill WTP. Under current conditions, the Hemphill’s WTP primary service area is at risk because there is no finished water storage for the densely developed central city area and not enough pumping/pipeline capacity for the area to be supported from existing storage facilities and other treatment plants. Hemphill is DWM’s largest WTP, and without storage or a backup pump station, pressure can drop to boil-water levels within minutes if the pumps are interrupted. If the WDSRP Central Atlanta projects were already place, Boil Water Advisories in April 2016, July 2017, and December 2018 would have been prevented, all of which impacted many schools and hospitals.
The Downtown Storage Tank project is construction of a water storage facility with a 7 million gallon (MG) ground tank and a 36 million gallon per day (MGD) repump station to provide emergency water reserve and equalization for downtown Atlanta. A 48-inch transmission main, 4,750 feet long, is also required to connect to the nearest major transmission main.
The Hemphill Steam Pump Station Rehabilitation project rehabilitates the instrumentation and control system for the Hemphill Steam Pump Station, which contains three pumps with total capacity at 120 MGD, and is the backup pump station for Hemphill WTP.
Once the project is complete, Hemphill WTP will have a redundant pump station fully capable of meeting current and future demands and pressure requirements. The Hemphill Steam Pump Station contains three pumps with total capacity at 120 MGD.
The scope of work for the Downtown Storage Tank project includes:
- Installation of an above ground water storage tank with a total storage volume of 7 million gallons
- Installation of piping for connecting the pump station to the distribution system
- Installation of remote supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) controls for automated operation
- Installation of water quality equipment
- Installation of a backup generator for uninterrupted electrical supply
Justification:
- Improves reliability of drinking water pressure and fire flows
- Adds redundancy to maintain water pressure and reduce potential boil water advisories
- Increases the volume of water available for fire flows
Project Type: Distribution System
Proposed Construction Start: 5/2021
Scheduled Completion: 8/2023
Project Budget: $22.3M
Council District(s): All
NPU(s): All
Status: Planning
The scope of work for the Hemphill Steam Pump Station project includes:
- Replacement of finished water pump variable frequency drives (VFDs) and valve actuator
- Installation of additional sensors to protect the motors
- Improvements to the existing programmable logic controllers (PLCs)
- Replacement of the main switchgear for Hemphill WTP
Justification:
- Improves reliability of drinking water pressure and fire flows
- Adds redundancy to maintain water pressure and reduce potential boil water advisories
Project Type: Distribution System
Proposed Construction Start: 4/2020
Scheduled Completion: 7/2021
Project Budget: $13.5M
Council District(s): All
NPU(s): All
Status: Active / Design
Project Name: Adamsville Pump Station Upgrade and Fairburn Road Pipelines
In South Fulton County, customers receive much of their water from the Chattahoochee WTP several miles to the north. The existing distribution system network from the Chattahoochee WTP contains many critical features where single points of failure can disrupt supply to thousands of customers, including several economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Adamsville Pump Station Upgrade project provides a new pump and redundant discharge header for the Adamsville Pump Station. The Adamsville station runs all pumps during peak demands and has no standby for emergencies.
Flow from the Adamsville Pump Station heads south through the Fairburn Road 30-inch main, which leads toward Fairburn and Union City. A mechanical failure in the Fairburn Road pipeline can cut off South Fulton from the pumped flow. The South Fulton County area has a history of pressure losses due to failures along this critical path of flow, as evidenced by consent orders and a recent March 2019 Boil Water Advisory. This transmission main was constructed in the 1950’s but, cannot be feasibly rehabilitated as it is too critical to remove from service. The Fairburn Road Pipelines project provides parallel capacity so it can be taken offline for repair without causing long-term disruptions.
The scope of work for the Adamsville Pumping Upgrade includes:
- Retrofit of an existing booster station to add a fourth pump as a standby
- Installing piping for connecting the pump station to the distribution system
- Adding another 20-MGD pump and upgrading to a dual discharge header for resiliency
Justification:
- Improves reliability of drinking water pressure and fire flows
- Adds redundancy to maintain water pressure and reduce potential boil water advisories
Project Type: Distribution System
Proposed Construction Start: 8/2021
Scheduled Completion: 11/2022
Project Budget: $4.4M
Council District(s): 10, 11
NPU(s): H, I, Q, P, R
Status: Active
The scope of the Fairburn Road Pipeline project includes: addition of two transmission mains:
- Installation of approximately 1.7 miles of a 30-inch-diameter water main beginning at the Adamsville Pump Station and ending at Benjamin E. Mayes Drive along Fairburn Road
- Installation of approximately 4.4 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipe beginning at Benjamin E. Mays Drive at Veltre Circle. It travels southeastward to Campbellton Road at Fairburn Road
Justification:
- Enhances resiliency
- Improves reliability of drinking water pressure and fire flows
- Adds redundancy to maintain water pressure and reduce potential boil water advisories
Project Type: Distribution System
Proposed Construction Start: 6/2022
Scheduled Completion: 3/2025
Project Budget: $29.1M
Council District(s): 10, 11
NPU(s): H, I, Q, P, R
Status: Active / Planning