Approved:  1 Technical Water Hour

New Well Field Development, Storage and Transmission Planning for Columbus City Utilities – Planning and Engineering Considerations

Columbus City Utilities currently operates two water plants served by multiple well fields.  The water plants both serve the 284 miles of water distribution system.  The water plants and many of the wells are aging and require improvements to maintain water treatment capacity and water quality.  A water Master Plan completed in 2018 identified options to improve the water plants and well capacity to meet the 20-year projected demand to be supplied from a single water plant located south of the City near Water Plant No. 2.  Additional future well capacity in the South Well Field to replace wells at Water Plant No. 1 to be removed from service is critical to meet future demand from a single water plant. Abandonment of the 1950s plant and wells near the center of town in favor of a single plant on the south side requires special transmission main and storage tank considerations to keep the northernmost tanks full. The analysis included new storage tanks, raising existing tanks and creating a closed pressure zone in the distribution system. The current and future land uses create challenges to well field development that has required significant planning efforts as the utility tries to identify suitable well sites. This presentation discusses the efforts required to develop two new wells in 2020 and the future well planning efforts needed to provide adequate raw water capacity to a growing community like Columbus.

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