Construction Update: June 2025

June was another busy month of construction at the West Parish Filters plant, this time with less rain, but higher temperatures. Our hardworking construction team made steady progress establishing critical tie-ins to keep the water treatment process flowing during demolition of the old slow sand filters. Here’s a look at what it takes to build, connect, these massive pipes.

At the beginning of the month, crews fabricated the pipe for tie-in #3. This involved pipe-fitting at a jumbo scale, then welding sections together. And that’s just the first step.

Next, all the welds are examined with radiographic testing. An expert basically X-rays the welds to check for any voids or weaknesses. A local Springfield consultant is performing these tests for us.

Not all pipes can be welded. Joints in the 36” high-density polyethylene or HDPE pipe are fabricated with a method called electrofusion. Here you can see the blue fittings where electric current generates heat to melt the HDPE material, creating a leak-proof weld.

Finally, we apply a kind of specialized shrink-wrap to the field welds. It’s like a sleeve that protects welds from rust and corrosion.

In order to install all this pipe, the excavation area needs to stay dry. This process is called “dewatering.”

Both groundwater and rainwater are being pumped into a series of green steel containers known as “frac tanks,” where it is treated and prepared for discharge. As the muddy water enters the tank, it flows through baffles, causing the silt to settle to the bottom. The water is further filtered through three frac tanks before it flows to the silt bags. Clean water is released to Cook Brook or the lagoon.

Meanwhile, new lines for the "chemical" injection vault will run through this excavation. (By "chemicals" we mean sodium hydroxide to balance the pH and orthophosphate to inhibit corrosion of plumbing.)

It took two cranes to fly Tie-in #3 into position. Once in place, the new pipe is welded to the existing pipe.