Gary, Indiana – The American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois (ACEC-Illinois) selected the INAWC Lake Water Intake Project, for an Honor Award in its 2005 Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. The $37.3 million INAWC Lake Water Intake capital improvements project developed for the Indiana American Water Company (INAWC) involved the construction of a new lake intake, a raw water conveyance tunnel and a 60 million gallon per day (mgd) capacity pump station with provisions to support a 100-mgd system in the future.
Designed and engineered by MWH, this new water source delivery system spans from Lake Michigan to the Borman Park Water Filtration Plant (about three miles) and includes a 15,000 foot horizontal rock tunnel with a vertical intake shaft in the lake and a 30-foot diameter caisson for the pump station. The new intake tunnel crosses heavily developed urban property, including a portion of downtown Gary, the South Shore Commuter Rail Line and other railroad facilities, the I-90 Expressway and the USX Gary Works Steel Mill site. The existing intake and raw water pumping station remained in service until completion of the new facilities.
The project team’s use of a drilled lake shaft for the intake and a bored rock tunnel for raw water conveyance provided a number of benefits over a traditional cut-and-cover or soft-ground tunneling option. By adapting these intake construction techniques, the team was able to engineer the 15,000 feet of 96-inch diameter water tunnel under densely developed urban areas without any significant surface disruption and with a shorter construction schedule and reduced overall project cost.
The new intake, completed May 2003 (ahead of the planned 30-month schedule), provides extensive benefits for the Lake and Porter County communities and the local economy by increasing the reliability of the INAWC water supply system. It also provides local community leaders and development advocates with evidence of the utility’s long-term support for continued growth and development throughout the region. The new intake replaces an aging system that was nearing the end of its useful life after 90 years of continuous service.
The INAWC Lake Water Intake Project is one of twelve projects eligible for the Eminent Conceptor Award, the top award given by ACEC-Illinois in January 2005.
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About MWH
Headquartered in Broomfield, Colo., MWH is a private, employee-owned firm with approximately 6,000 employees worldwide. The company provides water, wastewater, energy, natural resource, program management, consulting and construction services to industrial, municipal and government clients in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, India, Asia and the Pacific Rim. For more information about MWH, please visit the company’s Web site at www.mwhglobal.com.
