Water treatment plants and water distribution systems contain many pieces of critical infrastructure necessary for modern life. Although designed with a 100-year lifetime, this infrastructure eventually needs replacement. In fact, water and sewer systems often have the most long-lived assets in a municipality.
Since 1888, water has been pumped from 72 Park Avenue to supply the needs of the community. Not long after 1888, a well was dug by hand to bedrock near the lakeshore, and a 20” intake pipeline was constructed about 2,000 feet out into Lake Michigan. This pipe terminated in the well below the ground level. Pumps then drew lake water out of the well.
Currently the Sheboygan Water Utility operates and maintains two intake pipelines including a 30” pipe installed in 1909 and a 36” pipe installed in 1959. Every drop of water for Sheboygan, Sheboygan Falls, and Kohler passes through one of these pipes and then into the shore well. Over the years, the Water Utility made upgrades to the shore well, but the core structure is more than 100 years old.
When raw (untreated) lake water reaches the shore well, pumps must then add enough energy to lift the water through the treatment process itself. These pumps make up the low lift pumping station. After the water completes its journey through the treatment process, a high lift pumping station then gives it enough energy to travel throughout the water distribution system in the city.
For many years, the Water Utility has been developing plans for the replacement of its intake pipeline system, shore well, and low lift pumping station. The 30” 1909 intake pipeline has surpassed its normal working lifetime, and is too small to provide an average water demand on its own. The 36” 1959 intake pipeline has about 40 years of working lifetime left, but, due to a short length of only 2,100 feet, it remains subject to icing and river runoff events.
Although inspections have shown it to be in good repair, the shore well has surpassed a normal working lifetime. If it collapsed or experienced some other failure, water supply would become difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.
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These three components: intake pipeline, shore well, and low lift pumping station operate in conjunction with each other. If one link is broken, the remaining elements fall apart.
The Sheboygan Water Utility is poised to replace these pieces of critical infrastructure in the next few years. Working with consulting engineers, the Water Utility has evaluated the feasibility of various ways to complete the replacements. During construction of replacements, the current systems must remain fully operational. Space is extremely limited at the Water Utility, unless expansion into the Vollrath Park area occurs. And the project financing must be spread over time to avoid large rate increases.
The new raw water facility will incorporate an intake pipeline, shore well, and low lift pumping station in a building located on vacant land north of the water treatment plant. Although this will displace a disc golf hole, the course can be routed around the new structure. This location will allow construction of the new facility without impacting the existing water treatment plant. Due to its location detached from the plant, the new facility could also be used in the future to pump raw water to a water treatment plant located elsewhere.
Preliminary engineering design is underway. Many details remain unresolved. The Water Utility has initiated communications with its regulatory agencies — the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) — to help ensure a good project outcome. The PSC will ensure that expenditures are reasonable and suitable. The DNR will ensure that water treatment meets all requirements in an efficient manner, allowing easy expansion in the future.
Although the project will be costly, critical water infrastructure is an investment in ongoing and future reliability in the supply of safe drinking water to the community. Depending on final configurations, the best current cost estimates range from $30M to $40M. The Sheboygan Water Utility will seek long term financing of either 30-year or 40-year water revenue loans in order to spread the cost over a portion of the new infrastructure’s lifetime. The high cost stems from expensive underwater construction, thousands of feet of large piping, underwater crib structures to anchor the pipeline, deep shoreline excavation, electrical supply and instrumentation controls, a new building with mechanicals, and lakeshore construction to withstand severe weather and wave conditions.
The Sheboygan Water Utility remains committed to providing the community with a reliable, economical, and safe source of drinking water. The Water Utility operates entirely on water revenues, and this project will have no impact on property taxes or any fees other than water rates. Project updates, including cost information, will be routinely posted at sheboyganwater.org/intake project/updates.