After a unique chemical depot experience and an enjoyable lunch provided by Bechtel, the GLCM team headed over to the Juniper Pumping Station (JPS) located in Lake Pueblo State Park near the base of Pueblo Dam. We were greeted by Boe Addleman, a project senior superintendent of Archer Western Construction. Archer Western is a subsidiary of Walsh Group and is responsible for non-union work. Walsh Group is a construction company engaged in general contracting and design-build services. For this project, Archer Western is heavily focused on mass excavation, rock removal, and hauling operations. It was a fascinating experience for GLCM students to see a heavy civil project that utilized many heavy machinery and equipment on site.

The Juniper Pumping Station is part of the Colorado Springs Utilities Southern Delivery System program. This project serves to provide 18 million-gallons-per-day of water to the communities in the Coloradoís Pueblo and El Paso counties that do not have a safe and reliable river system nearby. The two phase project will use the water stored in the Pueblo Reservoir and deliver around 78 million-gallons-per-day of water to the communities of Colorado Springs as well. Boe explained that the phase 1 of the project involves construction and installation of 50 miles of 66-inch diameter underground pipeline, three pump stations, a 50 million-gallon-per-day water treatment plan and a finished water pump station.

Around 70% of the work has been completed for all three pump stations. Juniper Pumping Station itself will cost around 35 million dollars to completion. Since January of 2015, Archer Western has been working on excavating for the underground discharge pipe. It has also set the discharge surge tank at the station. Archer Western recently installed the discharge valve vault that is responsible to regulate the flow of water. The system uses variable frequency drives (VFD) and pressure reducing valves that control how much water the station will pump. This can all be done remotely. The site currently has 40-50 employees that are working hard to get the first pump operational by June of 2015.

Boe Addleman is very experienced with water and water treatment projects and has been in the construction industry for more than 30 years. He provided us with valuable advice and emphasized that it is crucial for individuals to have field experience in order to visualize how a project all fits together like a big puzzle.  After an informative day at site visits and tracking through rainy and muddy conditions, the GLCM crew was excited to grab dinner at Colorado’s famous burger joint, Earl’s.

Blog by Yash Baheti