Sherwin-Williams presented its 2017 Impact Awards for outstanding water and wastewater projects during WEFTEC earlier this month in Chicago.

The winning project, completed by Carolina Management Team (CMT), rehabilitated the chlorine contact chamber at the St. Pauls (North Carolina) Wastewater Treatment Plant at no cost – a donation worth an estimated $46,000.

The Impact Awards recognize notable projects that use materials from Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings. The awards honor professionals committed to enhancing infrastructure to improve public health and safety. An independent panel of water industry experts rated entries based on the difficulty of the project, how the contractor overcame challenges, what solutions the contractor provided, the owner’s satisfaction, and the overall uniqueness of the project.

“Award submissions included many standout projects, from wastewater treatment plants to water towers, that demonstrated excellence in the use of high-performance protective coatings to combat corrosion and extend asset life,” says Kevin Morris, market segment director, water and wastewater.

Top award

The top project arose out of the town of St. Pauls’ lack of funds to address its deteriorating treatment plant. The town turned to CMT and its charitable CMT Gives Back program, which each year delivers an complete asset rehabilitation, including labor and materials, to a municipality in need.

St. Pauls’ more than 50-year-old chlorine contact chamber was severely deteriorated from corrosion. To complete the rehabilitation, CMT’s crew rebuilt the surface profile of the concrete and then applied Sherwin-Williams FasTop MVT moisture control system to address moisture penetrating the chamber’s floor.

Finally, the crew applied a primer coat of Dura-Plate 235 multipurpose epoxy followed by one coat of SherFlex elastomeric polyurethane to the walls and floor. The crew also used Macropoxy 646 fast-cure epoxy and Acrolon 218 HS acrylic polyurethane to restore valve stands and influent piping, as well as Sher-Crete flexible concrete waterproofer to protect the contact chamber exterior.

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Here's a look at the updated chlorine contact chamber, complete with a red ribbon. 

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CMT also earned honorable mention for a difficult pipe recoating project for the Kerr Lake Regional Water System in Henderson, North Carolina. The filter pipe gallery at the water treatment plant was deteriorating, showing flaking paint and visible corrosion. To recoat the pipe gallery assets, CMT used Euronavy ES301 and Corothane I HS. The two moisture-tolerant systems were required because the pipes were condensing during the project due to the need to keep the gallery operating during the restoration.

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Here's what the pipes look like after the restoration efforts.

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 Runners-up

Two water tank restorations were named runners-up. UCL of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Dixon Engineering of Lake Odessa, Michigan, teamed up to recoat a multi-leg elevated water tower for the city of Findlay, Ohio. The 2-million-gallon tower’s new patriotic design includes a red, white and blue design resembling an American flag with stars and lettering stating, “Findlay Salutes Veterans.” UCL applied a primer coat of Macropoxy 646 PW, followed by two coats of Acrolon Ultra for the white coloring and Fluorokem HS for the red and blue.

The other runner-up project was a 4.5-million-gallon potable/fire water storage tank restoration performed for the Mukilteo Water and Wastewater District in Mukilteo, Washington. HCI Industrial & Marine Coatings of Brush Prairie, Washington, restored the tower under challenging conditions, including a short, mandatory project window and close proximity to parking areas.

HCI relined the interior of the 80-foot-diameter by 120-foot-tall tank in 47 days, from draining to refilling, using Sherwin-Williams SherPlate PW Epoxy, an edge-retentive, ultra-high solids coating engineered for immersion service. To recoat the exterior, the company applied Acrolon Ultra HS. Gray & Osborne of Seattle served as consulting engineer for the project.

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This is the recoated and relined tank for the Mukilteo Water and Wastewater District in Mukilteo, Washington.

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