Nonstop pour tops off water plant

There was a veritable parade of concrete trucks heading to the Port Washington water plant on Friday.

The Schmitz Ready Mix trucks traveled two by two, poured their loads of concrete into a pumper truck parked next to the construction zone where an addition to the water plant is being built, then headed to a clean up station. Two other trucks took their place, dumping off their loads while the first two were cleaned and then headed back to Grafton to refill their load.

The process continued virtually nonstop for 6-1/2 hours, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The concrete was specially treated so it could be poured on the 20-degree day, Water Supt. Dan Fisher said.

“It was quite a process,” he said.

The pumper truck extended across the entire addition to the plant on Lake Street, its load pouring into forms set to create the ceiling of the new 400,000-gallon clearwell being built inside the addition. The forms were fitted with rebar to strengthen the ceiling.

The concrete was poured from the east side of the plant to the west, with a crew of about 15 workers atop the addition where they used objects that Fisher said resembled weed whackers to vibrate the concrete, eliminating air bubbles in the thick mixture.

Crews followed the pour, smoothing the surface as it traveled across the plant.

The concrete was a quick-setting mixture, Fisher said, which meant it was firm enough by the end of Friday for the crews to walk on it — and walk they did, installing a cover over the freshly laid concrete to protect it from the weather and to allow the ceiling, which is being heated from below, to cure.

In total, about 400 cubic yards of concrete was poured for the ceiling of the clearwell, he said.

It takes a week for the concrete to cure, he said, after which crews will take the forms out and grind the concrete to smooth the surface.

While the concrete cures, crews will continue doing work on the interior of the plant. They will construct the ultraviolet treatment and pump rooms, which are also part of the addition, and lay pipe for the rest of the plant, Fisher said.

In about a month, the new clearwell will be tested for leaks. It will be filled with water and allowed to sit for a time to determine if the well is tight.

Improvements to the clearwell are among the major reasons for the $21 million improvement project at the water plant, which began in July.

After lake water is treated at the plant, it will go through the new ultraviolet disinfection process, which is said to kill 99.99% of any kind of bacteria or organisms.

The water will be treated with chlorine, phosphate and fluoride, then sit in the clearwell for enough contact time to incorporate the chemicals before being sent into the city’s distribution system.

The new clearwell is expected to be online by mid-fall, Fisher said.

The water plant updates are expected to be substantially completed by June 30, 2026, and totally done in August 2026.

The project is being paid for through  a Safe Drinking Water Loan that will be repaid through the water rates. The Public Service Commission has approved a two-step, 67% increase in water rates to pay for the project.

The first phase of that increase hiked city water rates by 44% in 2023 and will result in another 22.5% increase later this year or early next year.