As Hurricane Irene rumbled toward the Northeast last August, crews at the Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant in Millburn, N.J., scrambled to defend two potential casualties—the existing 90-year-old treatment plant and the construction site of its 47,000-sq-ft replacement. The crews knew that in the aftermath of major storms like Irene, which turned out to be one of worst in New Jersey's recent history, the potential for damage was high.
The old facility near the banks of Canoe Brook, by its confluence with the Passaic River, wound up taking a direct hit. Waterways crested well above flood stage and swamped the plant's pump and switch equipment, shutting down its filtration operation temporarily and impairing the water supply for seven nearby municipalities. But the new project, which was then focused on the foundation, only saw stormwater collect in open excavation areas and made it through the storm intact.