Arizona Water Reclamation Facility Relies on Roof Hatches

Photos courtesy of Gill Couto Photograph

Hatches with safety rails were critical to this water reclamation facility in Glendale, Arizona.

Climate change and over-allocation of the Colorado River have imperiled water supply in many regions of the western United States. A community in Glendale, Arizona, spent $30 million to improve a water reclamation facility that will help ensure it can meet the region’s needs. Roof hatches played a big part in the functions of that facility that is critical to the community’s wellbeing.

The project at the Arrowhead Ranch Water Reclamation Facility started in 2014 with facility assessment. Construction began in 2017 and concluded in the spring of 2021. Originally constructed in 1985 and permitted in 1994, the facility had reached the end of its useful life.

Glendale receives about 44 percent of its water from the Colorado River, 44 percent from the Salt and Verde Rivers, and 6 percent from groundwater. The remaining 6 percent comes from reclaimed water, which is cleaned and used for non-drinking purposes. Water from Arrowhead Ranch is used by residents and two nearby golf courses, primarily for landscaping.

The challenge, however, was keeping the unit operational while teams overhauled the existing facility. “Different areas were under construction at different times,’’ said Karla Camou Guerra, Glendale’s Water Services Superintendent. “We maintained operations and regulatory compliance during the duration of the project.”

Workers at water treatment stations frequently need to access valves, pumps and other equipment. A range of access products were selected for the project, including a number roof access hatches with safety railing systems, ladder-safety posts, and aluminum floor access doors.

“The hatch and access products were selected due to their durability and they were able to provide the safety handrails,’’ said Keith McClure, project manager for MGC Contractors. “It was a difficult project because of the continuous operation. There was a lot of bypass pumping that we worked out with the city to keep it operating at all times.”

The hatch products feature engineered lift assistance to ensure safe and reliable operation. The large double leaf roof hatches used at this facility can be easily opened and closed by one individual.

Hatches Allow Access to Powerful Pumps for Water Replacement

Photo courtesy of Cody Wurzer

Roof hatches are critical to a pumping station that refills an aquifer (left). About 200,000 people are benefited by the new pumping station (right).

Following is a project in Washington state that will benefit users of an aquifer that has been falling rapidly for the past 40 years.

A new pumping station will provide water for up to 10,500 acres for users of the Odessa Aquifer. The project started in 2016 and was redesigned in 2017 to 2018 due to a grant to allow for additional capacity. Construction was completed late in summer 2020, and became operational in the spring of 2021.

The first pump distribution system in the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project includes more than seven miles of pipes, six pumps and a pump house. The water system, called EL47.5 for its distance from the start of the East Low Canal, cost $20.8 million. It is the first of nine proposed pressurized pipeline systems being built to deliver Columbia Basin Project surface supplies to replace ground water use on 87,000 acres across Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties.

EL47.5 is just one piece in the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program and is part of the larger Columbia Basin Project, which currently serves approximately 680,000 acres. The Odessa Ground Water Replacement Project, at an estimated cost of approximately $400 million, will have a profound economic and environmental impact on the community, where the primary industry is farming.

The aquifer has been in precipitous decline since 1980, falling more than 200 feet as farmers, municipalities and homeowners drilled deeper wells to reach the diminishing water supply. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said more than 700 irrigation wells were drilled in the region, with some wells reaching down nearly 2,000 feet.

The heart of the EL47.5 project is a 12,800-square-foot pumping station, which will reduce groundwater depletion by up to 73 million gallons per day.

The station includes one pump of 700 horsepower, and five pumps of 1,250 horsepower. The system can deliver more than 63,000 gallons per minute. The station has a delivery capacity of 10,500 acres, pumping water at 140 cubic feet per second. Water is delivered to people who purchased long term contracts.

Teams will access the pumps through roof hatches. The custom hatches are fabricated with polycarbonate dome covers for natural daylight and engineered lift assistance for easy, one-hand operation. They are also modified for hand winch operation, allowing them to be easily opened and closed from inside the building.

The aluminum hatches, which were supplied by Anderson Specialties, meet unique size requirements. “They were proposed by the contractor and met the specs that we required,’’ said Jon Erickson of the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District. “They were also important because they allowed pump and motor access by crane.”