WESTERN AREA WATER SUPPLY PROJECT
Western North DakotaAbout the Project
The oil boom in western North Dakota created a frenzy of industrial activity and economic development. The area’s infrastructure wasn’t ready for the boom and was inadequately sized to handle this extreme growth.AE2S worked with local community leaders to develop the Western Area Water Supply Project (WAWSP), a regional water system that supplies drinking water from the Missouri River, supplemented with groundwater from the R&T Water Supply Commerce Authority (WSCA), to meet the municipal, rural, and industrial water needs for all or parts of McKenzie, Williams, Divide, Burke, and Mountrail Counties.
The project is expected to supply drinking water to an estimated 100,000 people by 2035.
Project Details
Date: 2009 – Present
Client: Western Area Water Supply Authority
Key Project Elements
- Large Regional Water System
- Extremely Accelerated Project Schedule
- Funding Assistance
- Hydraulic Modeling
Conceptual Design Outlines Plan of Action
As a member of the WAWSP, Williams Rural Water District is a rural system that provides service to 1,900 user accounts. The rural system significantly expanded as a result of the oil boom requiring the District to increase their ground and elevated storage capacity. A critical piece of the solution included the addition of two new water towers: the West Water Tower and the Wheelock Water Tower.
AE2S utilized the hydraulic model of the WAWSP system and the hydraulic model of the rural water system to plan, locate, size, and determine the proper height of the new water towers. Design components included:
- Below grade piping vaults within the base of the water tower
- Heated enclosure within the base of the water tower which houses antenna and SCADA equipment, sampling ports, flow meters, and gages
- Separate discharge piping with flow meters measuring flow to specific service areas
- Heat trace wiring and insulation of riser pipes
- Aviation obstruction lighting
- Accommodations for antenna cables throughout the water tower.
In addition, the new Wheelock Water Tower serves as one of the central hubs for the WAWSP SCADA system. It hosts four parabolic dish antennas, as well as one omni directional antenna.