Professional Services, Water Utilities Annual Engineering Services

Waterworks supplies drinking water on a retail basis to approximately 400,000 people on the lower Virginia Peninsula including the cities of Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, and portions of James City and York Counties. A brief description of Waterworks facilities is provided below. Utility: Waterworks is an Enterprise Fund of the City of Newport News with annual revenues of approximately $115,000.000.00. The regional drinking water utility is comprised of seven Divisions that combine to treat and deliver approximately 36 million gallons of water per day. The capital improvement plan (CIP) averages approximately $40M in annual spending for planning, design, and construction infrastructure and project spending within each program is variable depending on priorities. Details related to annual forecast spending can be found in the City of Newport News and Newport News Waterworks approved CIPs. Raw Water Facilities: Waterworks owns 6 dams creating the raw water supply reservoirs which are all regulated by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The dams are mostly earthen structures with the spillways and other appurtenances consisting of concrete and steel. The exception is Walkers Dam on the Chickahominy which is a run-of-the-river dam consisting of a sheet pile/concrete cut-off wall, a boat lock, and a migratory fish ladder. The other 5 dams are Little Creek, Diascund Creek, Skiffe's Creek, Lee Hall, and Harwood's Mill; the latter two are terminal reservoirs for the Lee Hall and Harwood's Mill water treatment plants with associated raw water pumping facilities. The raw water system includes pumping stations on the Chickahominy River and at Little Creek, Diascund Creek, and Skiffe's Creek reservoirs, as well as raw water supply piping. Both the Chickahominy and Skiffe's Creek pumping stations have split-case horizontal centrifugal pumps. Chickahominy also has vertical turbine centrifugal pumps, as do the remainder of the pumping stations. Treatment Facilities: Waterworks operates two water treatment complexes: Lee Hall and Harwood's Mill. The Lee Hall complex consists of a 54-million gallons per day (MGD) surface water treatment plant that has been in operation since 2005 and a 5.7-MGD brackish groundwater desalting (BGD) facility that was built in 1998 and is scheduled to be decommissioned. The Harwood's Mill complex consists of a surface water treatment plant rated at 32-MGD that has been in operation since 1987. Both surface water plants employ complete conventional treatment processes including alum coagulation, flocculation/clarification, filtration and disinfection. Ozone is used for primary disinfection and is applied post clarification/pre-filtration at both surface water plants. The ozonation facilities at Harwood's Mill were added in 2002. Both plants use chloramines for secondary disinfection and supply water to a common distribution system. Fluoride and a corrosion inhibitor are added routinely at both treatment plants. Alum residuals from both facilities are thickened and then dewatered using centrifuges located at the Harwood's Mill complex. Thickened residuals from Lee Hall are transferred to Harwood's Mill for dewatering through a 6-inch interplant pipeline. The BGD facility treats water from the Potomac Aquifer using reverse osmosis membranes. After treatment, the finished water from the BGD facility flows by gravity to the finished water clearwell of the Lee Hall Water Treatment Plant. The Lee Hall facility has two electrical feeds from Virginia Power and limited stand-by power for select facilities on the complex. The Harwood's Mill facility has a single electrical feed from Virginia Power and an on-site 4080 kW backup generating facility. Distribution Facilities: Waterworks' distribution system includes three pumping stations, three ground storage tanks, three elevated tanks, approximately 130,000 service connections, and over 1,700 miles of pipeline ranging from 2 to 54 inches. Pipe ages range from 1891 to present, and predominant materials are ductile iron, cast iron, concrete, and PVC. Some of the newer transmission mains are cathodically protected. The system covers approximately 250 square miles. Lightfoot Well System: In 2008, Waterworks took responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the York County Lightfoot and Skimino well system. The system consists of two well sites using the Chickahominy-Piney Point Aquifer. Well site #1 consists of a groundwater well, hydro pneumatic tank, three atmospheric storage tanks, two booster pumps, and a sodium hypochlorite feed system. Well site #5 consists of a groundwater well, hydro pneumatic tank, atmospheric storage tank, two regular booster pumps, one high-capacity booster pump, and a sodium hypochlorite feed system. The Lightfoot well system also consists of an emergency interconnect with James City Service Authority. A future elevated storage tank is tentatively planned for Well Site #5. Alternate tank locations are possible.