Client

Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources

Location

Lawrenceville, GA

Services

Wastewater Engineering

Lawrenceville, Georgia, had a serious problem: lack of sewer infrastructure. The lack of infrastructure was a major obstacle for growth in southern Gwinnett County, so the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources called on Gresham Smith to decommissioning the existing Lower Big Haynes Creek pump station and design a new pump station to push 25 million gallons of wastewater to the newly constructed reclamation center 34 miles away, as well as gravity sewer service to the surrounding area. Not only was the new pump station station the first of its kind in the county, but our project team was also challenged by an aggressive schedule, extreme site constraints and the expectations of local residents.

25
MGD pump station
4
MG storage tank
6
months ahead of schedule
construction of new sewer main pipes

We designed a 36-inch force main and 48-inch gravity sewer that would terminate at the new pump station. Both pipelines are approximately 11,000 feet in length and we used tunnels to cross roadways due to the terrain and the cost to reconstruct an excavation. In order to preserve existing wetlands, the project was coordinated with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

equipment inside the pump station

In addition to meeting the requirements of the site’s tight footprint, the new pump station’s straightforward layout was designed with maintenance in mind. Workers have easy access to the pumping system, as well as equipment, valves, piping and electrical controls. Even access roads to and from the site and the entrances and exits to the facility are intentionally placed. The layout worked so well that Gwinnett County now uses the Lower Big Haynes Creek layout as the model layout for all of their new facilities. Thanks to the pump station’s efficient design, Gwinnett County was able to decommission one of its smaller stations upstream. By reducing the number of stations in operation, the county has seen energy and maintenance cost savings.

a mural on the exterior of a wastewater storage tank
An aerial view of the new pump station
a mural on the exterior of a wastewater storage tank

After the initial pump station design, we were asked to design a canopy to go over the below-grade pump station wet and dry-wells. Once complete, the canopy will help reduce water infiltration into the wet-wells, reduce corrosion of the dry-wells and shelters the maintenance staff from nasty weather.