St. Joseph, Missouri – November 11 –
The City of St. Joseph, Missouri has awarded Garney an $18 million contract to construct the UV Disinfection Facilities and Effluent Pump Station Project. The current plant that discharges into the Missouri River uses a bacterial process that is not effectively disinfecting. The new construction of a UV disinfection system will completely disinfect the discharge meeting State of Missouri regulations. The project is very complex and consists of two major components, the new UV and effluent pump station and the 64” effluent line.
The new UV and effluent pump station facility is 30 feet deep with extensive sheet piling and dewatering. Upon completion of shoring and dewatering, 260 H-pile steel beams will be driven into bedrock which will bear the weight of the entire structure being built in the wetlands. The H-piles will be installed within 130 feet of a grain elevator and it is required by contract that we hire a third party monitoring company to monitor the settlement potential of the grain elevators due to the vibrator installation of the H-Piles. The UV and effluent pump station structure consists of a masonry structure built on a foundation consisting of 3,000 cubic yards of concrete. A new UV system, an effluent wet well, and three new 36” pumps will be installed as part of the pump station. The pumps will discharge into a new 64” line effluent to a discharge structure at the Missouri River.
The new 64” effluent line presents its own challenges as it crosses under 10 sets of railroad tracks before reaching the flood levee to the effluent discharge structure as well as governmental agencies' involvement including the Corp of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources due to the construction in and around the flood levee. The effluent line will pass underneath the railroad tracks by utilizing a 96” steel cased 480 LF horizontal hand tunnel that is 40 feet deep. The tunneling operation will be done by hand because of concerns with groundwater and vibration from the railroad traffic above. The effluent line will then pass under the flood level another 700 feet to the effluent discharge structure to the Missouri River.
The project also includes upgrades to the electrical transformer at the Whitehead Pump Station and installation of a new duct bank. The motors on the existing pumps at the intermediate pump station will also be upgraded. In addition, upgrades to the control package will be performed to better facilitate operations of the wastewater plant. 
