Columbus Upground Pump Station

The city of Columbus’ “Water Beyond 2000” study performed by the Columbus Department of Public Utilities determined that for future year, the water supply for the state capital needed to exceed the available supply. As a result, the Delaware Upground Reservoir project was born to aid the city of Columbus during drought seasons.

The nine billion gallon reservoir is located on 843 acres of farm land owned by the city of Columbus. Designed to store water for future use, the facility also uses an inflatable weir in the Scioto River to force water to the pump station, which is then pumped to the reservoir for holding. Water travels by gravity back to the river and flows to the Dublin Road Water Treatment Plant during dry seasons.

SME’s team has been working diligently with MS Consultants Inc., HR Gray and Moody Nolan Inc. to supply controls for four 1000hp pumps that will force water from a wet well to a 850 acre reservoir through a 72 inch line that is three miles long. When dry season approaches, the water will be released and gravity fed from the reservoir back to the Scioto River via the same underground line. Once downstream, this water will be treated at the Dublin Road Water Treatment Plant to provide clean drinking water to the city of Columbus. Additional SME installations include a pneumatic weir in the Scioto River, as well as extensive amounts of in slab conduit coordination.

In addition to the pump controls, SME is installing controls that will be able to regulate the pump station from the Dublin Road Plant via radio signal.

The $2.9M electrical project, set to be completed in October of 2013, is manned by approximately 12 SME team members.