Seacoast Utility Authority (SUA) was seeking a less labor-intensive, safer way for its maintenance personnel to access the underwater intake screens for periodic screening. The filter feed pump station supplies treated wastewater to six Aquadisc filters for further processing of the reclaimed water. Under the existing arrangement, maintenance workers had to lean out over the holding pond from a raised platform to manually remove and clean the screens, located in the concrete inlet structure beneath the deck.

Working under a continuing design-build services contract with SUA, Globaltech engineered, permitted, and installed a larger platform to replace the existing one, complete with an electric jib crane to mechanically lift the filter screens from their tracks in the submerged inlet structure for cleaning.

All existing handrails, inlet screens, screen tracks, and deck grating were removed, disposed of, and replaced. Epoxytec Coating system was applied on the submerged surfaces of the inlet structure.

Project Achievements / Benefits

• The replacement platform was constructed of prefabricated aluminum designed to fit perfectly atop the existing inlet structure—minimizing downtime to the reclaimed water operation. Once fabricated, the aluminum components above the water line were anodized for corrosion protection. All 316 SS components were used below the water line.
• Globaltech rented and installed a bypass pumping system with piping to temporarily feed secondary effluent to the filters at a rate of at least 9 MGD while the new coating system was applied to the inlet structure. After removal of the bypass system, a permanent connection tee was kept in place to accommodate bypass operation in the future, if needed.
• The finished project has improved safety and facilitated more frequent cleaning of the intake screens, decreasing the rate of debris buildup in the pump intake baskets.