Water plant work bumps into history

When workers began digging on the south side of Port Washington’s water plant to lay the foundation for an addition to the facility, they had no idea that they were about to touch history.

But they did, uncovering a foundation for what is believed to be the city’s original pump house, Water Supt. Dan Fisher said.

The building was not just a pump house but also an electric plant that produced the power to pump water from the lake and distribute it downtown, he said.

The pump house is believed to date back to the early 1900s, he said, adding that while the city knew the facility had been located at the site, no one knew anything about how it had been demolished.

During the demolition, he said, some of the walls and structure were knocked down into the foundation. It was then covered with soil and planted with grass before the city’s current water plant was constructed about 1946, Fisher said. A 1968 addition to the plant doubled its capacity.

Fisher noted that the water produced at the original plant was pumped into downtown, adding that water mains were installed downtown in about 1910.

In the 1920s, he said, the city added chlorine to its water.

It was, he said, the only way to treat water at the time.

“It wasn’t until this plant was built that we had treated water,” he said.

The city’s water plant actually contains two separate treatment facilities, each able to handle about two million gallons of water a day — even though the city only uses about 1.2 million gallons a day, Fisher said.

Although a piece of history, the foundation had to be removed in order for work on the water plant renovations to continue, Fisher said, noting the foundation was in the way of geopiers that need to be installed to support an addition to the plant.

It took about two weeks for the foundation to be removed, and work to install the 150 geopiers has started. It will take about two weeks to drill and install the piers, then contractors will install rebar and pour the concrete for the new clearwell tank.

That, Fisher said, will be the first real structural piece of the plant work that people will notice, adding the rest of the addition will be constructed around the clearwell.

The foundation work, along with water main breaks, caused about a six-week delay in construction, City Engineer Roger Strohm said in a report to the Board of Public Works Tuesday.

But, he noted, contractors were able to work inside the plant, minimizing the delay.

Much of the interior work will be done during the winter, he noted, including the construction of new bathrooms, a lab, offices and a break room.

Installation of an emergency generator on the north side of the building has also been completed.

The $21 million water plant project, required to meet Department of Natural Resources standards, is slated to be completed by mid 2026.