Project Challenge:
Create an aesthetic and cost efficient method to improve water
quality, enhance the aquatic environment, improve
and protect fish populations and eliminate odors of the Calumet
Sag Channel and the Little Calumet River which stretch 42 miles
from Lake Michigan to Lockport.
Project Solution:
The SEPA project improves the water quality of the Calumet Sag
channel through the use of five pumping stations and waterfall
structures designed to return oxygenated water to the Channel.
This method, an alternative to conventional advanced treatment
plants, saved $260 million in construction.
Stagnant canal water is lifted into a series of elevated, shallow
sidestream pools connected by waterfalls, then returned to the
stream. The station sites comprise a "water park"
setting open to the general public, and include landscaped grounds
and walks for viewing and enjoying the waterfalls.
The project included the design of numerous cast-in-place concrete
structures such as weirs, pedestrian bridges, inlet tunnels,
retaining walls and pump house foundations. Several pump stations
included overhead bridge cranes to service operating equipment.
Cantilevered steel sheet pile cofferdams were also installed
to enclose several of the pump station structures from the Channel.
The extensive use of ashlar limestone facades to enclose outdoor
concrete structures provided a further aesthetic feature to
enhance the waterway.
OWNER: Metropolitan Water Reclamation
District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC)
CLIENT: Greeley and Hansen, LLC
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