Designed by Brown and Caldwell, an environmental engineering and construction firm, Hawaii’s largest ever wastewater system upgrade has been officially completed.
The upgrade improves Windward Oahu’s sewage collection and treatment system by connecting the Kaneohe Wastewater Pre-Treatment Facility (KWWPTF) to the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (KRWWTP) via a three-mile long, 10-foot diameter gravity sewer tunnel. Wastewater flows via gravity from a depth of 39-feet below ground level at the KWWPTF to a depth of 77-feet below ground at the KRWWTP. The route travels under the Oneawa Hills in order to avoid Kaneohe Bay and any sewage overflows into the environmentally sensitive public resource.
Brown and Caldwell also designed a 45 million gallons per day Tunnel Influent Pump Station to lift wastewater to the surface for treatment at KRWWTP. The project also includes a new 15 million gallons per day replacement for the existing Kailua Influent Pump Station, a generator and headworks buildings, and odor control facilities.
Because the new tunnel system conveys wastewater via gravity rather than pressure, three upstream pump stations and a three-mile long force main (all potential community overflow points) were able to be eliminated.
Related Stories
| Nov 13, 2013
Installed capacity of geothermal heat pumps to grow by 150% by 2020, says study
The worldwide installed capacity of GHP systems will reach 127.4 gigawatts-thermal over the next seven years, growth of nearly 150%, according to a recent report from Navigant Research.
| Nov 8, 2013
S+T buildings embrace 'no excuses' approach to green labs
Some science-design experts once believed high levels of sustainability would be possible only for low-intensity labs in temperate zones. But recent projects prove otherwise.
| Nov 6, 2013
Energy-efficiency measures paying off for commercial building owners, says BOMA study
The commercial real estate industry’s ongoing focus on energy efficiency has resulted in a downward trend in total operating expenses (3.9 percent drop, on average), according to BOMA's Experience Exchange Report.
| Oct 30, 2013
11 hot BIM/VDC topics for 2013
If you like to geek out on building information modeling and virtual design and construction, you should enjoy this overview of the top BIM/VDC topics.
| Oct 28, 2013
Urban growth doesn’t have to destroy nature—it can work with it
Our collective desire to live in cities has never been stronger. According to the World Health Organization, 60% of the world’s population will live in a city by 2030. As urban populations swell, what people demand from their cities is evolving.
| Oct 18, 2013
Meet the winners of BD+C's $5,000 Vision U40 Competition
Fifteen teams competed last week in the first annual Vision U40 Competition at BD+C's Under 40 Leadership Summit in San Francisco. Here are the five winning teams, including the $3,000 grand prize honorees.
| Oct 18, 2013
Researchers discover tension-fusing properties of metal
When a group of MIT researchers recently discovered that stress can cause metal alloy to fuse rather than break apart, they assumed it must be a mistake. It wasn't. The surprising finding could lead to self-healing materials that repair early damage before it has a chance to spread.
| Oct 7, 2013
10 award-winning metal building projects
The FDNY Fireboat Firehouse in New York and the Cirrus Logic Building in Austin, Texas, are among nine projects named winners of the 2013 Chairman’s Award by the Metal Construction Association for outstanding design and construction.
| Sep 24, 2013
8 grand green roofs (and walls)
A dramatic interior green wall at Drexel University and a massive, 4.4-acre vegetated roof at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center in Kansas City are among the projects honored in the 2013 Green Roof and Wall Awards of Excellence.
| Sep 19, 2013
What we can learn from the world’s greenest buildings
Renowned green building author, Jerry Yudelson, offers five valuable lessons for designers, contractors, and building owners, based on a study of 55 high-performance projects from around the world.
