Doing Double Duty: Well House and Tank Share Space with Community Recreation
It’s a win-win when improving a city’s water infrastructure creates an opportunity for expanded recreation facilities. That’s what happened in Sandy, Utah, when the community found itself with an awkward-shaped land parcel as the result of the construction of a new well house and water storage tank.
Since the 1980s, Flat Iron Mesa Park has been both a busy community gathering place and the location for two water storage reservoirs for Sandy City. With the area’s population growth, the City has developed a need for more storage in this pressure zone. The best alternative was to replace the two aging tanks with a larger tank on the same park site, drill a well as a dedicated tank water source, and build a well house that addressed the City’s fluoridation concerns.
Cleared site for pickle ball courts adjacent to water tank
Charged with making maximum use of the site, the City determined that the space where the old tanks were demolished would become the home to as many pickleball courts as possible while keeping the mature trees that lined the area between the tanks and the rest of the park. These pickleball courts would need to meet all current standards for pickleball courts, including lighting, sitting areas, easy access from the park and the parking lot, and a post-tensioned concrete slab to provide the necessary strength and longevity to the courts.
Combining infrastructure and recreation at one site
At the same time these challenges were being addressed, the City was forced to re-evaluate its process to fluoridate its source water to better manage risks of an overfeed. The new design needed to eliminate the risk of over-fluoridation at this source and incorporate changes throughout the system to avoid the potential of it happening.
This project had many competing interests and needs that required careful planning, detailed scheduling, and innovative design. Looking to the big picture of community benefit is what made this project shine.
Design Challenges
Energy Efficiency: The purpose of a well at this site was to provide a water source that maximized efficiency by feeding directly into the new tank without being boosted over long distances. This improvement was completed with a creative process flow that used a premium efficiency motor and a VFD. The power supply system was also designed both for the current setting and for a potentially higher future flow rate, allowing rapid upgrades in the future while still maintaining high levels of energy efficiency. The system qualified the City for Rocky Mountain Power’s efficiency program.
Noise Reduction: The building was less than 200 feet from the nearest residents and less than 80 feet from the pickleball courts. To minimize noise impacts to these areas, the building incorporated the most up-to-date noise abatement methods, including sound panel insulation and air gaps in walls to dampen the noises created by the well. Our design met the noise requirements for less than 80 decibels near the building and less than 70 decibels at the pickleball courts.
Well house under construction and completed
Pickleball Courts: Construction of the pickleball courts included the most modern standards for post-tensioned slabs to provide additional strength and life to the courts. Two separate contracts were required for the court and the well house, but the contractors had to complete the work in phases. The well house contractor had to run sewer and storm drain lines (some of which crossed under the court slab) before the court contractor preparing the area. Running the lines also required their installation in casings under the slab to allow for any future repairs without impacting the playing courts.
Seeing the Big Picture
When most people approach a well house or pump station, they generally do not see it as an asset to the community (without significant explanation from some engineer or public works staff). At the Flat Iron Mesa Park, the well house building and adjacent courts add to the park’s aesthetics and function and provide a beautiful, inviting area for the City residents to visit and recreate.
The key focus of the project was the unique opportunity to combine the function of a critical piece of infrastructure, which is usually hidden from sight, with a new recreational facility with social benefits. While a pump station can be an eye-sore, we worked to complete a well house design that not only eliminates adverse impacts on surrounding properties but also adds to the area’s unique charm.
Flat Iron Mesa Park, perched above nearby neighborhoods, provides a place to visit and recreate while meeting the City’s infrastructure needs.
For more information, contact Mark Chandler at mark.chandler@crsengineers.com
