City of West

On April 17, 2013 an explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company which will forever impact the City of West. This explosion set into motion a long series of events to re-build the community. Walker Partners assisted the City with identifying and prioritizing the infrastructure improvements necessary for returning the community to its pre-explosion condition and better. Identified improvements included replacing many water and wastewater lines, street rehabilitation, along with improvements to the water supply system.

One of the major issues identified during the prioritization was that the two wells, No. 4 & No. 6, that the City relied on for a portion of their water supply were not operational. The City of West relies on both groundwater from wells within the city and treated surface water purchased from the City of Waco which is transported through 18.5 miles of transmission line. Without groundwater, the City was at risk if the City of Waco’s water transmission system failed due to line breakage or pumping issues. To this end, it was determined that the well system needed to be restored within 90 days.

At the time of the blast the City was operating Well No. 6, but shortly thereafter it was discovered that the quality of water produced by the well was not acceptable. Well No. 4 was not operational due to needed repairs. During the blast, the ground storage tank and pump station at Well No. 4 were damaged. After careful consideration, it was recommended that in lieu of rehabilitating Well No 4 and replacing the ground storage tank and pump station that a new well (7) site be developed. This decision placed the emphasis on returning Well Site No. 6 to producing an acceptable water quality along with meeting capacity requirements for the system.

Walker Partners worked with the City to discern the issues that Well No. 6 was having. With respect to the expedited schedule, Walker Partners teamed with Weisinger Incorporated for further analysis of the well. Upon inspection of the well it was discovered that the well column piping had extensive corrosion after only one (1) year in operation. The well had been serviced the previous year along with the column piping being replaced due to corrosion of the original column piping. The pumping and electrical system were also inspected by the team and found to be inadequate for the required duty. To meet the demand of the system it was recommended to replace the well pump with a 350 gpm pump, install 1,300 linear feet of new column piping including external epoxy coating, and replace the 480V electrical system with 2,400V for better long term production efficiency. Cleaning of the well was also performed by surging to improve production capacity.

While Well No. 6 was offline for rehabilitation, Walker Partners recommended to the City that the existing 250,000 gallon ground storage tank be rehabilitated along with servicing the existing high service pumps. All of this work including the well rehabilitation was completed before the 90 day deadline.

Walker Partners is currently in final design for Well Site No 7 which includes developing a 350 gpm well, 250,000 gallon ground storage tank and 1,000 gpm pump station. This system will be constructed in mid to late 2015. 

completion date: 2015

location: wEST, tx