Problem: The Ford Road Pump Station in Perrysburg Township, Ohio, is a part of the Northwestern Water and Sewer District’s $7 million project to build a new station across the street from the existing one. The old station was nearing the end of its service life and would be unable to meet the growing community’s future sanitary sewer needs. In addition, the original pump steel-can-style station from the 1960s was fitted with equipment requiring hard-to-find repair parts and difficult-to-maintain dry well and wet well. At 22- by 22- by 50-feet deep, the new pump station is the largest in the District’s collections system. The new station will be rated at over 4,500 gpm, with 455 hp Flygt US high (75%) efficiency submersible pumps, variable-speed drives for added flexibility, real-time monitoring, state-of-the-art pump controls, custom-designed hydraulics, and a 1,000 KW backup power generator. OBIC products were used to line the wet well of the new facility, as they wanted an internal lining system installed right from the start.
Solution: The project started with about a week’s worth of hydroblasting with a 38,000 psi pressure washer to get concrete laitance off and get a good surface profile to bond to. Once the substrate was surface dry, OBIC’s concrete primer was applied to further prep the structure for lining. Then, the OBIC Armor System was applied on all four walls and the floor where they met to seal it. They poured the lid in place as it was not on initially and waited 28 days for it to cure. After that, another week was spent hydroblasting the top 3 feet of the walls and the lid to create that perfect surface profile again to finish lining the rest of the structure and across the ceiling. The most important step of the project was a thorough inspection to look for holidays. It took multiple days and a half dozen crew members who scoured the interior of this large structure to inspect for voids or thin spots in the liner.
Result: A major benefit of lining a new structure is it provides significant cost savings because it’s already bypassed. Having to bypass a structure is a huge expense for a municipality to incur to line it after the system is put into service. As the pump station was below grade and precast, it is quite probable that it would crack over time due to the ground shifting and allow leaks to come in. In addition, hydrogen sulfide corrosion is inherent with any wastewater structure and these gases will deteriorate it at an alarming rate. This causes infiltration in your system that increases costs for your municipality. By lining the Perrysburg Township wet well from the beginning, it is protected from groundwater infiltration and hydrogen sulfide from the beginning. In the end, OBIC products created a seamless, monolithic waterproof membrane for the whole pump station that’s tough and durable to last into the future. OBIC lining systems are designed to extend the life of the structure by 50 years or longer.
