Lake Huron Water Supply Study

Karegnondi Water Authority

o City of Flint
o Genesee County
o Lapeer County
o Sanilac County

Appendix 3
Reliability Provisions

February 23, 2009

540 S. Saginaw Street Suite 200 P.O. Box 3748 Flint, MI 48502
Lake Huron Water Supply Study Appendix 3 – Reliability Provisions

3.1 General
System reliability is one of primary criteria by which alternatives for long term water supply will be
evaluated. For purposes of this study, reliability is considered the ability to continuously supply a
safe water supply of sufficient quantity to meet the customer’s needs, including fire protection.

Reliability of a water utility can be affected by any aspect of the utility, ranging from physical
equipment to staff and operations. Reliability can be provided through redundancy of equipment or
processes utilized for pumping and treating water, including ancillary systems such as power supply
and control systems. Reliability can also be provided by an independent, redundant water supply
which could be provided by water supply contracts with other utilities or by utilization of wells.
Storage of a sufficient quantity of water can also provide reliability.

This memorandum reviews and establishes the criteria for reliability of the physical facilities included
with the concept considered for a long term water supply for Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA)
customers.

3.2 Proposed KWA Water Supply

The proposed KWA Lake Huron Water Supply will supply water to its customers, including Sanilac
County, Lapeer County, GCDC-WWS, and the City of Flint. The proposed KWA supply will deliver
raw water to customers for local treatment and distribution.

Figure 3.1 is a schematic showing the key components of the proposed KWA Lake Huron Water
Supply.

3.3 Demands
It is assumed that the KWA will supply raw water to customers sufficient to meet the maximum day
demands of the customers. It is assumed that water will be treated locally, with sufficient capacity to
meet local maximum day demands. It is assumed that KWA customers will be responsible to provide
sufficient local storage to meet peak hour demands.

The proposed raw water reservoir and facilities before the reservoir will be designed for the
maximum demand over a consecutive seven day period. The reservoir will provide seven days of
water storage to allow up to a week for repairs or maintenance of either the proposed single intake or
single Lake Huron Transmission pipeline. A review of records indicates that the maximum demand
over a consecutive seven day period is about 94% of the maximum day demand. For this study, the
maximum consecutive seven day demand is termed the 7 day maximum demand.

Where twin pipelines are planned for redundancy, each will be designed so that together the pipelines
have sufficient capacity to deliver the maximum day demand. However, each pipeline will be
designed to provide “emergency demands” in the event that one of the pipelines must be removed
from service for repairs or maintenance. For this study, emergency demands are assumed to be equal
to 75% of the maximum day demand. Past experience indicates that maximum day demands can be
reduced to this level through the use of outdoor water use restrictions.

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Lake Huron Water Supply Study Appendix 3 – Reliability Provisions

Figure 3.1: Lake Huron Water Supply

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3.4 Specific Reliability Provisions

Key components of the proposed water supply studied are identified below, along with reliability
provisions established for each.

3.4.1 Intake
A single intake is proposed. The intake will be designed to withstand the forces of wind, waves,
water, ice, erosion, and shipping traffic. Provisions are to be provided to maintain reliable service
throughout the range of conditions that might be encountered, such as frazil ice and zebra
mussels.

The intake design shall limit any required repairs or maintenance to be completed within a one
week period. Upstream reservoir storage of at least seven days demand will be provided to allow
for this.

3.4.2 Lake Huron Pumping Station

The Lake Huron Pumping Station (LHPS) will be designed with sufficient firm capacity to meet
the 7-Day Maximum Demand.

The LHPS will be designed to include raw water storage sufficient to meet the 7-Day Maximum
Demand of Worth Township.

Backup power for pumping is not provided since water can be supplied from the reservoir for
periods of at least seven days, in the event of a power failure. Backup power will provided to
maintain lighting, security, HVAC, control, and monitoring in the event of a local power failure.

Primary pumping control will be via local PLC controller.

3.4.3 Reservoir
The reservoir will be designed to provide storage of raw water to meet the 7-Day Maximum
Demand.

3.4.4 Reservoir Pumping Station

The Reservoir Pumping Station (RPS) will be designed to provide firm capacity to meet the
maximum day demand of KWA customers, below the pumping station.

Backup power sufficient for pumping the 25 year maximum day demand (MDD) and to maintain
lighting, security, HVAC, control, and monitoring will be provided for the RPS in the event of a
local power failure.

Primary pumping control will be via local PLC controller.

3.4.5 North and South Transmission Mains

Twin transmission pipelines will convey raw water from the RPS to the Genesee County WTP
and to the Flint transmission main. Each pipeline (the North Transmission Main and the South
Transmission Main) will be designed with capacity to deliver the emergency demand; together
both pipelines have been planned with capacity for the 25 year MDD.

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3.4.6 Flint Transmission Main

The Flint Transmission Main has been planned with capacity for the 50 year MDD.

Redundancy for the Flint Transmission Main will be provided by one or more of the following:
o Flint’s water system includes 57 million gallons of finished water storage.
o The Flint WTP can draw raw water from the Flint River, in the event that the Flint
Transmission Main is out of service.
o The Genesee County and Flint finished water distribution systems will be interconnected,
enabling treated water from Genesee County’s WTP to be supplied to Flint water customers.

3.4.7 Genesee County WTP

Water treatment processes and facilities will be designed with sufficient firm capacity to
continuously treat water to the established water quality at the maximum day demand. Firm
capacity may be provided either through redundancy of specific units of equipment or processes
or by providing a redundant group or train of all of the unit processes and equipment required to
treat the water to the desired quality.

Backup power sufficient for treating and pumping the maximum day demand and to maintain
lighting, security, HVAC, control, and monitoring will be provided for the Genesee County WTP
in the event of a local power failure.

3.4.8 Flint WTP

Water treatment processes and facilities will be designed with sufficient firm capacity to
continuously treat water to the established water quality at the maximum day demand. Firm
capacity may be provided either through redundancy of specific units of equipment or processes
or by providing a redundant group or train of all of the unit processes and equipment required to
treat the water to the desired quality.

A second power supply from the electric utility provides backup power to operate all equipment,
processes, and facilities at the city’s WTP.

3.4.9 Lapeer County Communities

The cities of Lapeer and Imlay City, the Village of Almont, and Mayfield Township are presently
supplied water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD). Each community
maintains one or more backup wells which are available to supply water in the event of a loss of
supply from DWSD. For this study, it is assumed that each community will continue to rely upon
their backup wells for reliability.

3.4.10 Sanilac County (Worth Township)

Pumping and water treatment equipment and processes will be designed to provide firm capacity
to supply the maximum day demand.

The LHPS will provide storage in excess of for the 7 day MDD of Worth Township, in the event
the intake is out of service for repairs or maintenance.

Backup power sufficient for treating and pumping the maximum day demand and to maintain
lighting, security, HVAC, control, and monitoring will be provided for the Worth Township WTP
in the event of a local power failure.

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3.5 Other Alternatives for Reliability

The concept studied is assumed to be independent from the DWSD supply which presently supplies
water to many of the communities in the study area. Although the concept studied has been
developed to provide suitable provisions for maintaining a reliable water supply, the existing DWSD
facilities represent another alternative for reliability. The DWSD system is an independent supply
with the ability to deliver the quantities of finished water necessary to provide backup of most
components of the new Lake Huron supply being studied.

To provide additional reliability for the new Lake Huron supply, the existing supply points from
DWSD should be maintained and it will be necessary to negotiate a suitable contract with DWSD for
backup supply.

If a contract for mutual aid can be negotiated, the project cost for the new Lake Huron Water Supply
can be reduced through the elimination of redundant facilities, provided for reliability. Potential cost
reductions are presented in Appendix 15.

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