Harbor Beach Water Treatment Plant Improvements

Harbor Beach receives its raw water from nearby Lake Huron, purifies it at the treatment plant, and then distributes it to 2,338 customers from Harbor Beach, Port Hope, Huron Township, Forestville and Sand Beach. The majority of the water treatment plant as it stands today was constructed in 1994 and has a total capacity of four million gallons per day; however, some of the existing water mains in the ground date back to the 1920s. Spicer was hired to conduct a condition assessment of key structures and piping networks at the plant and present the findings in a report with cost estimates on fixing deficiencies. Spicer prepared a preliminary report with cost estimates needed for RD funding assistance to update the system and increase its reliability.

After meeting with city officials and presenting the condition assessment, Spicer completed improvement designs for the water treatment plant which included replacing the existing process controls system, improving the chlorine gas disinfection system, replacing influent, backwash and high-service pumps, and adding additional filter media. Various structures at the plant were also repainted. Lightning protection was added, improvements were made to the plant’s security system and two new backwash ponds were also constructed.