Best Water/Environment, Best Excellence in Safety: Skagit River Raw Water Pipeline and Clearwell
The design for the Anacortes water treatment plant resiliency project called for a 42-in.-dia welded steel pipeline to be extended underneath the Skagit River. It serves as a backup to the original 42-in.-dia concrete pipeline that was built in 1969. The lone pipeline presented a single point of failure that could disrupt water delivery to the city’s 60,000 residents as well as to two major petroleum refineries in Skagit County and the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island.
The team added a 54.9-million-gallon second raw water line under the river and a 2-million-gallon clear well to operate in parallel with the facility’s existing treatment operations. The new pipeline can carry the full capacity of the city’s need while providing operators flexibility and allowing the original pipeline to be shut down for inspections.