City of Houston Southeast Water Purification Plant

Client: City of Houston
City: Houston
State: Texas
Services: Public Works
Awards: 2020 APWA-Texas Chapter Project of the Year Award in the Structures, $25-75 Million Category

BGE partnered with the City of Houston to rehabilitate its Southeast Water Purification Plant, which provides 200 million gallons a day of drinking water to residents. The plant was originally constructed in the 1980s and needed updates to continue to meet the needs of the citizens in its service area.

After a comprehensive evaluation of the facility and equipment, BGE provided recommendations for enhancements to improve the efficiency of operations at the plant and much needed rehabilitation of treatment components. The project’s scope was broken into two packages based on the two treatment modules (TM1 and TM2) at the facility. The scope of the packages includes:

Package 1

  • Design and construct a new electrical building to house pump station switchgear for TM1
  • Make PLC upgrades to TM1
  • Design and construct a sludge drain station for TM2
  • Remove sludge from overflow basin
  • Replace substation transformer
  • Add soft starters to pumps in the high service pump station
  • Make repairs to concrete and coating of TM1
  • Rehabilitate several high service pumps

Package 2

  • Design and construct a 100-foot diameter backwash waste clarifier
  • Rehabilitate 12 filters in TM1
  • Construct a sump pump in the polymer room of TM1
  • Remove sludge from TM2
  • Rehabilitate existing Instomix flash mixers
  • Enlarge the six drainage holes in the existing TM2 flocculation basins
  • Rehabilitate multiple large-diameter pipes

BGE completed the project over seven years with no recorded injuries during the construction period and no recorded rain days in the schedule despite more than 200 different eligible occurrences. Once completed, the enhancements improved the production capacity of the plant back to its design capacity. BGE continues to provide oversight of the plant for the City.