Print-ready PDF

This 44 acre mixed residential and light commercial mountain development consists of 500 residential dwelling units. Elevation ranges from 7350 to 7600 feet and dominant soil type is tufa or pumice interspersed with pockets of shallow sandy-loam. Design and construction is planned in three phases consistent with three distinct east-west ridges. Southwest Wetlands Group provided engineering services for the wastewater lift stations, booster pump station, water tank and associated pipelines.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS - Subdivision infrastructure will be owned and operated by Los Alamos County and all new SCADA, pump, pipeline, tank and lift station equipment, materials, designs and specifications must comply with existing standards and practices. U. S. Forest Service controls the tank site immediately west and up-gradient of the project. The land is fragile and minimum disturbance was required of the owner and developer. Scrub oak, ponderosa and douglas fir are dense and require pipeline and tank sizing to meet and exceed fire protection requirements.

DESIGN OBJECTIVES - Design a system to serve the approved capacity for water and wastewater in the most cost effective manner while conforming to AWWA, WEF and Los Alamos County utility standards and design criteria. Southwest Wetlands Group prepared plans and specifications, approved contractor submittals, made field observations and assisted in start-up for the following:

Booster Pump Station to meet flow of 560 gpm and 480 feet total dynamic head with equipment redundancy and a dedicated 12-inch transmission line running 5000 linear feet and 455 vertical feet to the upper storage tank. Included a 12-inch tee for Los Alamos County operations. Booster Station suction is taken from the existing adjacent 16-inch line and 5 MG tank.

Booster Station Components consisted of vertical turbine pumps, pump control valves, surge anticipator valves, check valves, mag flow meter, pressure sensors and SCADA interface.

750,000 gallon Upper Tank to be located on USFS easement including site piping, level control sensor, remote transmission unit RTU, gates and fencing, and overflow structure.