The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

With a major portion of the outdoor work completed on Chinook’s water treatment plant upgrade workers have moved inside the plant to begin major replacement and reconfiguration of the 38 year old facility. The first set of two treatment tanks has been removed and work is expected to begin this week to install the new replacements.

A new raw water storage facility has been completed and river water is being stored there before entering the plant for treatment. This initial stage, of a few hours, allows sedimentation to begin settling out of the water. The water is then sent to the ‘guts’ of the plant where it flows through two ‘trains.’ The trains are two parallel sets of tanks where flocculants and coagulants remove the remaining sediments. After a filtration chlorine is added and the water is ready to pump to the water towers. The first set of tanks was removed last week in preparation for installation of new tanks.

To remove the old tanks, and eventually install the new ones, a portion of the north wall of the plant had to be removed for access. The old tanks were disconnected, cut into three large pieces and removed. The plant continues to treat water with the original tanks left in the plant. Once the first set of new tanks is installed, the set on the south side of the plant will be removed and replaced.

Despite being cut into three sections for removal, the tanks were still huge and hard to move. The new tanks are in two sections and a large pad of rock was built on the north side of the plant to allow the new sections to be slid into place. It’s estimated to take two to three weeks to install and connect the new tanks, then the south side train will be disconnected, cut down and removed. All this was planned to coordinate with winter when water usage is down compared to the warmer months.

Other inside work includes moving the electrical control boxes from inside the plant to a new room added at the east end of the plant. The old electrical control panels were inside the plant and susceptible to the humidity produced from the water treatment process. Electrical subcontractors are in the process of completing the new electrical room. Soon a diesel backup generator will be installed as a back up to allow the plant to run if there is a disruption in electrical service. The old plant had no backup system.

Much of the new process is computer controlled and monitored. Though not totally functional until all new construction is completed, the control system will allow operators to assess the status of the plant, identify a problem area and more effectively manage the treatment process. The target completion date for the upgrade project is mid-March.