Vision Equipment Blog
Able Pump Station – Best Water Environment Project – Duperon Storm Screens
Dallas’ Able Pump Station Recognized for Engineering Excellence
On Tuesday, September 19, the Engineering & Public Works Roadshow series made its third stop, this time in Dallas, Texas, at the award-winning Able Pump Station. The Roadshow celebrated the sump station’s contributions to resilience and safety for a four-square mile area of Dallas that had been inundated with frequent flooding events for years prior to the facility’s construction, which finished in 2019… Continue reading on Infrastructure Report Card
Improved Flood Protection to Protect Life and Property
The Able Pump Station, located on the south side of Riverfront Boulevard between the Houston and Jefferson Street viaducts, is designed to provide 100-year flood protection to approximately 3 square miles, including 171 acres of highly desirable land.
The properties adjacent to the previous Able sump complex have experienced frequent flooding. The sump complex includes nine separate and interconnected ponds that store stormwater, as well as two existing pump stations, constructed in the 1930s and 1950s, with a current combined capacity of 220,000 gallons per minute. To help prevent the loss of life as a result of flooding, the City of Dallas hired HDR to design the new Able Pump Station, which increases the pumping capacity nearly fourfold, to 875,000 gallons per minute. It also lowers the 100-year flood elevation from 399.0 to a design elevation of 392.5 feet.
The new pump station utilizes 3,000 HP concrete volute pumps as the pumping units. The station has dual primary electric service and dual transformers to provide reliable service, and is integrated into the new communications system used by the City’s flood control staff. The dual power provides an automatic switchover to a backup power supply in the event the primary power is lost during a flood. The secondary independent power feed enables the City of Dallas Flood Control to continue pumping flood waters into the Trinity River, preventing loss of life and any unnecessary damage to the adjacent properties in the area.
The project includes constructing the new pump station, decommissioning two existing pump stations, improving the connections between nine ponds that form the sump system and designing aesthetic improvements. Soils in the area are very poor, and the pump station structures were constructed on piers. The station has an elaborate groundwater mitigation and management system to protect the foundation.
Duperon provided the Storm Screens.
Able Pump Station Project Details
Featuring a modern design and the largest concrete pumps of their kind, the $68.6-million Able Pump Station No. 3 has brought improved flood control to a 2,685-acre area near the Dallas business district.
But in constructing the 23,228-sq-ft facility, the project team had to overcome a flood event themselves. Early in construction in May 2015, the Trinity River flooded past the 40-ft major flood stage for the first time since 2007. Water completely flooded the site’s 60-ft excavation, which contained drilling equipment, excavators and miscellaneous tools.
The city, contractor, design team and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collaborated to come up with a deep-soil mixing alternative for the earthwork, while the contractor and subcontractors made last-minute adjustments to provide enough equipment so that it would take only two weeks to drain the site. Through their various efforts, the project team was able to limit overall delays to two months.
With the pump station in a highly visible area, the city tasked designers with adding visual interest to the imposing building. Designers incorporated an abstract sculptural element—a 180-ft by 140-ft by 50-ft box—that reflects back to the city skyline and features layers of varying materials. The volute pumps—the centrifugal pumps that power the station— served as the inspiration for the facade’s design.
With a pumping capacity of more than 800,000 gallons per minute, the station has lowered the area’s 100-year flood elevation by an average of 4 ft.
Able Pump Station No. 3 is set to achieve LEED Silver certification later this year.
source: https://www.enr.com/articles/50192-waterenvironment-best-project-able-pump-no-3