THE PROJECT
Electrical contractor and project partner Guarantee Electrical expanded the Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority’s wastewater treatment plant, laboratory, and biological nutrient removal system’s permitted treatment, doubling its capacity from 3.2 million gallons processed daily to now more than six million gallons. Guarantee Electrical’s role was to install an upgraded electrical distribution system to enable the PCWRA to double its treatment capacity to keep pace with population and commercial growth, providing Plum Creek and the surrounding areas for future economic growth and development.

OUR APPROACH
The complexity inherent in equipping a large-scale wastewater treatment plant with the ability to meet growing communities and their increasing capacity needs required a project team that understood the technical nuances of these systems. Guarantee’s extensive history with installing electrical structures for water and wastewater treatment systems readied it for the job.

The team leveraged significant 3-D BIM modeling to accelerate design coordination and schedule challenges. All in-slab layouts, risers, racks, and control stands were meticulously modeled, allowing Guarantee’s prefabrication experts to work off-site building assemblies, components and templates. Prefabrication and kitting were also deployed via duct bank templates, light fixture kits, and prefabbed control stands. This pre-planning permitted the team to shift labor hours forward in the project schedule, resulting in significant time and budget savings. 

THE WORK/CHALLENGES
Guarantee installed five miles of electrical underground conduit infrastructure embedded in concrete requiring significant civil coordination, a 4,000-amp, 480-volt, fully redundant service with generator backup, 4,000 amps to control the motors, three 50-horsepower pumps and three 100-horsepower blowers.

Many potential on-site project challenges were anticipated and resolved early on through Guarantee’s prefabrication and building integration departments via 3-D modeling. Guarantee worked closely with designers and other project team members to meet owner specifications and to model the building, install the electrical cable tray and route all conduit up to slab prior to building anything in the field. Determining potential electrical connection issues and anticipating any potential collision with process piping far in advance enabled Guarantee to anticipate any major roadblocks at the jobsite and propel the project forward. 

CLOSING
Thanks to the work of Guarantee, the Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority’s greatly expanded wastewater treatment plant is powering at a capacity that is twice what it was before, actively serving residents and businesses in Plum Creek, Castle Rock and southern portions of Douglas County, Colorado for decades to come.