The City of Wakefield, Nebraska, hired us to improve water pressure to a developing area of the community. A distribution system study, including a hydraulic model, revealed insufficient fire protection for most of the system because of an overall lack of transmission capacity and an elevated storage tank, which the city had long outgrown.

We studied several options to improve fire flow capacity, system pressure, and water storage capacity. Based on our recommendation, the city voted to install 5,500 linear feet (LF) of 12-inch transmission main and a new 600,000-gallon elevated storage tank.

We provided a full suite of engineering and design services, including geotechnical, surveying, civil engineering, electrical engineering, utility automation, and construction management.

The project greatly improved the ability of the city to provide adequate fire flow capacity to the majority of the city. The new storage tank was placed considerably higher than its predecessor, increasing the operating pressure throughout the entire system. By tripling the previous storage capacity, the city now provides ample water for day-to-day operations, fires and other emergencies, industrial demands, and future growth.

Our design required replacing high-service pumps at the water treatment facility to operate at the increased pressure and the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to improve system reliability and operating efficiency. In addition, our study laid out a master plan for the city to continue to improve its water distribution system.

Funding was provided from the city’s operating budget, State Revolving Fund (SRF) loans, and SRF loan forgiveness.