Construction activity is flowing along nicely at the Water Works Park II project, where the building trades and their contractors are completely replacing the water filtration and pumping system that serves four million Metro Detroiters.

The Detroit Water and Sewer Department - the nation's third largest water utility - is sponsoring the $280 million project, employing a consortium of contractors called the Detroit Water Team. The work involves shoehorning an entirely new treatment plant, plus the associated piping, wiring and filtration systems into the existing Water Works Park campus east of downtown Detroit.

The new plant is scheduled to be fully up and running in March. The existing 80-year-old treatment facility will work concurrently with the new plant for about nine months, at which time the old plant will be decommissioned. This will allow time for any bugs to be worked out and allow a generous margin of safety.

The old plant's peak pumping capacity was 290 million gallons per day. The new plant will initially be capable of pumping 240 mgd, but that capacity is expandable to 320 mgd. Along with the construction of a new filtration plant on the Water Works Park campus are a new administration building, two chemical treatment plants, a residual building and a flocculation/sedimentation basin building.

In addition, about 150 miles of pipe ranging in size from three-eighths of an inch to 120 inches criss-cross the site underground.

"We're putting all this into an awfully small site, and that's been the most difficult thing about this job," said Bill Schroeder, site superintendent for E.L. Pipe, a subcontractor on the project. "The utility tunnels are filling up pretty quickly with the mechanical and electrical."

Approximately 300 Hardhats are working on the project.

The last major upgrade to the plant took place in 1961, when the coal-fed, steam-powered pumps were electrified. Today, the electrical upgrades are significant, both large and small. Electricians' skills were tested with the installation of four new 24,000-volt substations, as well as the tedious work of replacing the electrical wires and equipment feeding the dials and controls in the old pump house.

"Replacing that old feeder cable and control wire was very intricate work; we had no schematics to work with," said Motor City Electric Site Supt. Doug Hiller. "That proved to be very interesting, and when it all came together, it was very satisfying."

The Detroit Water Team consists of five partners, including J.S. Alberici and Walsh Construction, Motor City Electric, and engineering firms Black and Veatch and Montgomery Watson. There have also been 50 subcontractors on the design-build project.

The new plant will employ the latest water treatment technology, most notably the use of ozone as a disinfectant. A more expensive treatment than chlorination, ozonation has been used widely in Europe and has been catching on in the U.S. over the last 20 years.

The project was featured this year in Design-Build Magazine, which called Water Works Park II "the crown jewel" in Detroit's water-delivery system.

Awni Qaqish, assistant director of engineering for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept., estimates that the department will save $89-million in utilizing a faster design-build program with its contractors, rather than through a design-bid-build process. The reason: partially because the project will come online ahead of schedule and accelerate the decommissioning of the older, less efficient plant, saving $11 million in operation and maintenance costs alone.

A BRASS RAILING in the Detroit Water Works' high-lift pump-house (circa 1913) is given a shine with steel wool by painter Mark Reinertson of Local 1052 and Genesee Painting. "This place is beautiful, and it's built like a tank," he said. The building's mechanical and ornate fixtures are being restored.

A BLOCK WALL is set by Neal Farquhar of Bricklayers Local 1 and Rosati, while Tom St. Aubin of IBEW Local 58 and Motor City Electric sets up a box inside the wall.

Plumbers Thomas Rucker of Local 198 (Baton Rouge, La.) and Mike Roth of Local 98 and E.L. Pipe work on installing a 20-inch stainless pipe section at Water Works Park.