The South Mesquite Regional Conveyance System (SMRCS) conveys wastewater flows from member cities of Rockwall, Health, Mesquite, Forney and Seagoville to one of the district’s wastewater treatment plants in Mesquite, Texas. The SMRCS, excluding hydraulically significant pipelines owned and operated by the District’s member cities, contains approximately 44 miles of sewer interceptors of various sizes.
The South Mesquite wastewater basin is rapidly expanding. A hydraulic model and Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) program were implemented through the 2040 planning horizon to accommodate the growth of member cities and ensure maximum performance of the system.
B&N was tasked with developing a comprehensive wastewater hydraulic model, flow monitoring plan and CIP program. The flow monitoring plan provided locations for temporary wastewater flow monitoring and rainfall gauge placement for monitoring system performance during dry and wet weather flow conditions. This information was then utilized to properly calibrate the wastewater hydraulic model in dry and wet weather to maximize performance for the member cities. This project was broken into three phases in order to take advantage of local weather patterns to facilitate wastewater flow monitoring.
- Phase 1 focused on creating the hydraulic model network and developing an initial list of capacity-based capital improvement projects through 2040. B&N performed structure inspections (manhole mapping and pipeline verification), created InfoSWMM models and developed a flow monitoring plan.
- Phase 2 focused on the execution of the flow monitoring plan, calibration of the hydraulic model based on the collected flow data and the development of a finalized long-term capacity-based CIP. B&N also provided a sizing tech memo of the Buffalo Creek Interceptor. The Buffalo Creek Interceptor is a high priority interceptor where a significant portion of the NTMWD system growth is focused. The existing interceptor was rapidly approaching capacity and the analysis for proper sizing needed to be finalized prior to completion of the overall project.
- Phase 3 focused on providing a flow monitoring analysis, flow model projections and improvement recommendations. The team also conducted a flow data analysis and report, model analysis, CIP listings and a project summary tech memo.
The project also included a series of workshops with impacted city members to gain buy-in. Buy-in was critical since increased rates would affect all participating cities. The workshops also allowed for any concerns to be heard, questions to be answered and provided more clarity on the purpose of the project.
At project completion, B&N delivered a properly calibrated wastewater hydraulic model in dry and wet weather to maximize performance for the member cities. A properly calibrated hydraulic model can be continually updated to analyze projected growth and appropriately plan a budget-conscious solution to increased capacity. The project confirmed the pipes and plant could handle the projected capacity for the anticipated growth of the area.