{"id":2910,"date":"2024-12-30T15:13:49","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T15:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prairieprod.vcnastaging.com\/?p=2910"},"modified":"2024-12-30T15:13:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T15:13:49","slug":"clean-water-fresh-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/clean-water-fresh-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Clean Water, Fresh Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ground broke this January on Phase II of a new wastewater treatment plant that will solve multiple environmental problems for the city of Terre Haute, Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard for years about the smell at the existing plant,\u201d Mayor\u00a0Duke Bennett<\/strong>\u00a0said in a recent interview with the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. The city\u2019s outdated, open-air facility can\u2019t handle heavy storm runoff, he added, sending untreated stormwater into the nearby Wabash River. \u201cThe new plant allows us to address both issues,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n

This week,\u00a0Plocher Construction<\/strong>\u00a0of Highland, Illinois completed a 500-yard placement at the current plant site, the latest step in a near-total rebuild of the facility, says VP of Operations\u00a0Chad Plocher.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gearing up to meet job demands<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The job includes construction of a new aeration tank, 2 new clarifiers, 4 new sludge storage tanks and rehabbing of existing tanks, Plocher says, along with new buildings to enclose all operations.<\/p>\n

Prairie Material will provide all 35,000 yards needed to complete the $115 million project, delivering from its main yard in Terre Haute with a backup plant specially constructed to guarantee capacity.<\/p>\n

In all, Plocher will place 12 slabs and more than 70 walls, with some foundation walls measuring 2 feet thick and 24 feet high. Individual pours of 400 to 600 yards will take place throughout the 2.5-year schedule.<\/p>\n

Tests pinpoint the right mixes<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Concrete used in water treatment plants must meet tough standards that guarantee long-term performance. \u201cEngineering specs for 90% of the concrete in this job call for 4,500 psi with a water-cement ratio not to exceed 0.42 and s\u200bhrinkage of less than .03%,\u201d notes Prairie mix design expert\u00a0Mark Chiluski<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

More than half the concrete must also be waterproof, Chiluski notes, and to ensure workability, the contractor requested mixes delivering 8-inch slump.<\/p>\n

Plocher also sought to control concrete costs by minimizing the amount of shrinkage-reducing additives in the mix. \u201cSRAs definitely are a cost factor, so we worked hard to find the right solution,\u201d Chiluski says.<\/p>\n

Prairie tested 9 unique mixes in a 3-set matrix to achieve the ideal balance of shrinkage control while meeting waterproofing and slump requirements. Soon after work began, Plocher asked for mix tweaks to achieve faster set, finding the extra cost of mix enhancements would be offset by labor savings.<\/p>\n

New partnership, great results<\/h2>\n

With more than 10% of Phase II now completed, Chad Plocher says his company is impressed with Prairie\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve built water treatment plants throughout southern Illinois, but this project is the farthest east we\u2019ve taken on — and the first time we\u2019ve worked in Prairie\u2019s service area,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019ve developed a good working partnership with us. We laid out what we needed and they worked with us every step of the way to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheduled for completion in 2015, the new plant will process up to 48 million gallons of wastewater per day, twice the current plant\u2019s capacity. And with all operations indoors, Terre Haute residents will enjoy fresher air, too. \u201cAll of us at Prairie feel good about our role in a project that helps protect local water supplies and the environment,\u201d says Indiana Territory Manager\u00a0Doug Dalton.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ground broke this January on Phase II of a new wastewater treatment plant that will solve multiple environmental problems for the city of Terre Haute, Indiana. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard for years about the smell at the existing plant,\u201d Mayor\u00a0Duke Bennett\u00a0said in a recent interview with the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. The city\u2019s outdated, open-air facility can\u2019t handle […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}