Demonstrating One Company, One Culture, Water Operations and Capital Programs & Engineering employees have recently worked together to complete two significant repairs to water infrastructure.
Madison Booster Station Discharge Line Repair
On March 15, a leak was discovered on the primary discharge line exiting the Madison Booster Station.
This booster station provides water to several thousand customers over a large part of the southern half of Marion County. It was critical to repair the leak before it progressed to a major main failure, which could result in loss of service to these customers. Repairing the line required taking the booster station out of service for the first time in at least the past 35 years and presented formidable challenges to our team and our partners at Bowen Engineering.
With a detailed plan in place, Citizens and contractor personnel worked nonstop for more than 24 hours to make the repair while redirecting water from other sources to supply much of the south side of Indianapolis. The repair was completed without taking any customers out of service or receiving any low-pressure complaints.
“Our customers expect their utility services to be reliable. Projects like the Madison discharge pipe repair show that our employees are always focused on reliability. Our Water Operations and CP&E groups performed magnificently during this very difficult repair,” said President & CEO Jeffrey Harrison.
Key contributors to the repair on the Water Production Team included Leah Samson, John Kline, Jake Elliott, David Titara, Allen Mitterling, Justin Redman, Chris Barron, Stuart Donaldson, Dan Moran, and Ed Malone. Water Distribution employees vital to the effort included Jeffrey Bunch, Andrew Carlton, Mike Elliott, Robert Guthrie, Darrel Richardson, Dennis Avery, Vermon Collins, Keith Eckstein, Mike O’Gara, Ethan Stock, and Charlie Jones. Important contributors from Program and Technical Services included Phil Meehan and Christina Bowers. Plant Engineering employees helping ensure success included Mimi Law, Kraig Cummings, Ryan Taylor, and Matt Thomas.
Robert Guthrie
Andrew Carlton
Jeffrey Bunch
White River Water Treatment Plant Gate Valve Repair
Numerous Citizens employees worked together to successfully complete a challenging repair at the White River Water Treatment Plant in late April.
During regular maintenance, employees discovered that two gate valves, which control the flow of water into the plant, were not sealing properly and would need to be replaced to restore full operations at the plant.
In order to make the repair, the White River Water Treatment Plant, which supplies approximately 55 percent of the water supply for Citizens customers, had to be shut down.
Removing the treatment plant from service requires significant effort and coordination by the Water Operations Central Control System team to shift load to other water treatment plants and distribution storage facilities. This type of outage must also be completed quickly (within hours) and before summer peak demand periods.
“It’s extremely difficult to take a plant this size out of service for an extended period and continue uninterrupted water service,” said Jeff Willman, Vice President, Water Operations. “It’s also very difficult to bring a plant this size back to full production following an outage and quickly reverse all the system adjustments without problems.”
On April 20, a “test outage” was conducted to examine each step of the outage plan and identify any necessary changes prior to the real outage. The test outage helped ensure all necessary parts and equipment were on site for the real outage and that all work could be completed within eight hours. The test also confirmed steps to quickly reduce and increase plant production levels for the outage.
One week later, a team of Water Production employees, led by Greg Thompson, Operations and Maintenance Supervisor, conducted the outage and all repairs were made within seven hours.
“Our team practiced the outage in advance to make sure the real outage went well.” added Willman. “Good planning and preparation led to good results.”
The maintenance team consisted of Jared Allgood, Sean Campbell, Larry Cox, Dan Eoff, Colin Hall, Tony Harvey, Greg Thompson, Derek Pruett, and Greg Thompson with significant support from Phil Burba, Mike Davis, Scott Graves, John Kline, Ken Latta, Justin Redman, and Leah Samson. CP&E employees who facilitated the removal of a concrete cap prior to the repair included Mimi Law, Ben Reed, and Ryan Taylor.
Top: Citizens and contractor personnel worked nonstop for more than 24 hours to make the repair at the Madison Booster Station.
Bottom: Sean Campbell and Dan Eoff working on the White River valve repair.
