Potable Water Treatment/Distribution Improvements
City of Jackson, Missouri

Horner & Shifrin engineers designed a low-cost chemical feed system to inject the sequestering agent into the distribution system

Since December 2000, Horner & Shifrin has provided professional engineering services to the City of Jackson, Missouri related to improvements to the City’s potable water treatment / distribution system.

The water treatment assignment involved diagnosing the cause of, and recommending remedial measures for, some water quality problems which the City was experiencing within a certain zone of their distribution system. Horner & Shifrin engineers assisted the City’s staff in determining that these problems were the result of secondary chemical reactions involving chlorine fed directly into the distribution system and soluble iron in the water.

Horner & Shifrin then developed a protocol for more carefully controlling the amount of chlorine being added to the system, as well as simultaneously adding a polyphosphate sequestering agent to the water, in order to reduce the likelihood of occurrence of this adverse secondary chemical reaction. Horner & Shifrin engineers also designed the relatively-simple, low-cost chemical feed system to inject the sequestering agent into the distribution system; for subsequent installation by City staff.

The water distribution assignment involved converting and updating the City’s previously-developed computerized hydraulic model for their distribution system; and then using that model to analyze the system pressure effects of different pump and piping improvements for the distribution system. Horner & Shifrin engineers first converted the City’s current computer model from KYPIPE to MW Soft: H2ONet, and then added the significant number of additional mains that had been constructed over the past three years in the rapidly-growing City to the hydraulic model of the distribution system.

Once the model had been converted, updated, and re-calibrated, Horner & Shifrin used the “new” model to analyze the potential effects of a major planned improvement to the City’s high service pumping capability. This analysis helped the City to optimize the size and operation of the proposed high sevice pumps, which saved the City significant capital expense while still allowing the City to meet its goals for improving the water pressure equalization in the distribution system.

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