Some of this week’s photos are a unique look at a storm-drenched construction zone, which was evacuated on October 8th due to Hurricane Milton. Prior to evacuating to return to their families, crews conducted storm preparation.

In this week’s photos, despite the rain bands last week and storm yesterday, we can see the masons have started going vertical on the O&M building exterior walls. We can also see further progress on the Nereda basin's 42" influent lines.

Today’s update includes a note about storm safety for construction zones like the New Mainland Wastewater Treatment Facility. FPUA is monitoring Hurricane Helene's track and potential impact to our service territory.

In this week’s photos we can see some great new progress on some of the pipework that will connect the treatment basins to the upstream and downstream flows of the plant once it's completed! 

Crews finished the chlorine contact chamber foundation slab and buttoned-up the final rough-in of the future headworks and equalization tank. We also completed the walls of the future sludge thickener, water level correction tanks, and made a lot of progress on the troughs inside the AquaNereda basin! This week we’re making great progress on the deep injection well pump discharge piping system. 

This week, we see the continuous progress and forward momentum the build team has achieved despite a wet summer thus far! Crews have finished the contact chamber foundation slab and are now moving on to frame the walls and catwalks over the coming weeks.

This week, we can see substantial progress across the jobsite! The site electrical contractor set the primary transformer’s manhole and conduits, and we’re ready for the rough-in of the main electrical building.  We can also see the chlorine contact chamber’s concrete slab and serpentine wall framing starting to take shape. The second half of the slab will be poured this week before crews go vertical with the chamber walls.

This very special Wastewater Wednesday, in addition to update photos, we are extremely proud to announce that Fort Pierce Utilities Authority has been awarded a grant of $28,061,358 toward phase 2 of our sewer treatment plant relocation project from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection, Resilient Florida Program.

This week on Wastewater Wednesday, updated aerial photos of the entire site show the breadth of progress made so far this year. The construction site is bustling - see if you can spot team members, trailers, and trucks peppered throughout the landscape of these photos.

This week on Wastewater Wednesday we can see progress on the next concrete structures up for completion. Crews previously poured the lower slab for the chlorine contact chamber and have now begun forming the slab for the future sludge buffer and water level correction tanks. These structures work in unison with the AquaNereda reactors during the primary phases of treatment. 

This week, subcontractor Integ-Crete Construction shared aerial views of the final concrete pour of the walls and decks being formed at the mainland treatment plant. Integ-Crete's Construction specializes in wastewater treatment plants and large government civil concrete structures. The Integ-Crete Team has over 50 years of combined experience and is recognized as a leading treatment plant contractor in the state of Florida.

This week we are also excited to introduce the second major effort of relocating this treatment plant, which is to re-direct the underground piping and conveyance system so that wastewater flows to the new plant. This portion of the relocation project is highly involved and will require work throughout the entire wastewater service area.

This week, we can see the final interior finishing of the reclaim storage tank as the project manager and site engineer conduct final inspections before the tank is leak-tested and painted. When operational, this tank will provide nearly two million gallons of water per day to the Treasure Coast Energy Center for cooling its natural gas turbines producing electricity.

This week, FPUA’s Citizen-Led Utility Advisory Committee is hosting a public meeting: “Updates: Relocating FPUA’s Sewer Treatment Plant” that will be presented by the FPUA Director of Water and Wastewater Systems Bo Hutchinson, FPUA Operations Supervisor of Water Reclamation Mike Martin, and FPUA Supervising Engineer of Water and Wastewater Lugey Dawson. Planning for relocating the treatment plant has been ongoing over the last 20 years which makes this UAC progress update especially rewarding.

This week, crews are knocking out the final tasks of building the reclaim storage tank by bolting up the ladder, catwalks, and level sensor before completing the paintjob on the tank’s walls and dome. The Nereda tanks are also taking on a more finished look with the framing of the pipe wall- portals that will deliver wastewater flows to-and-from the treatment tank. We can also see the interior structure of the Nereda tanks and the concrete pillars that will support the overflow weirs and wastestream channels that will carry clarified flows to the final steps of treatment.

This week, we proudly welcomed film producers from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (@FDEP) who filmed and photographed progress of our monumental project here in Fort Pierce, which will be used as demonstration of some of the ways that FDEP is investing in water quality improvements throughout the state.  

The film crew began production at our South Hutchinson Island Wastewater Reclamation Facility (IWRF) capturing the natural beauty of Fort Pierce and our current operations. We then moved to the new Mainland Wastewater Treatment Facility (MWRF) for a tour by Mike Martin, FPUA MWRF Project Manager. After a safety briefing and overview of the new WRF facility, the crew began documenting the ongoing construction project. 

This week, heavy rainfall did not slow us down. The final corner section of the AquaNereda concrete tanks was poured, allowing the crews to now focus on the broad exterior and interior walls for the next two months. We’re also seeing more footer and foundation progress being made on the operations and maintenance building, with the first round of masonry work not far behind to bring this building out of the ground.

This week, we can see that progress continues on the O&M building foundation footers. Crews are also setting up the infrastructure and foundations for the combined office and maintenance shop space that will house and support the entire wastewater division of FPUA. Staff from plant operations, wastewater collection, and the new and expanding low-pressure sewer division will all be headquartered inside, along with a state-of-the-art maintenance and motor shop for repair and maintenance of pumps, motors, blowers, and field equipment.

Last week, we shared progress updates on completing the reclaim storage tank of the new Mainland Wastewater Reclamation Facility (MWRF), pre-stressing the tank walls, framing the AquaNereda basin walls, and roughing in electrical and conduit work for the facility. 

This week’s photos show that crews have completed the reclaim tank’s pre-stressing process and are hard at work spraying the final coats of concrete to finish off the structural phase of its construction. Soon, crews will break down the internal scaffolding, coat the interior, and leak test the reclaim tank before demobilization. 

This week, we can see how much closer we are to completing the reclaim storage tank of the new Mainland Wastewater Reclamation Facility (MWRF). Crews are now completing the final steps of wrapping the tensioned wire around the tank to “pre-stress” the walls to ensure hydraulic strength.