Last week, the PC Construction team on the Loudoun Water Potomac River Intake and Pumping Station project in Virginia celebrated a big milestone. The raw water intake structure’s airburst system successfully passed all testing and is ready to go.
The system consists of two 150-horsepower air compressors charging a 3,800-gallon air receiver tank. That air is stored at 150psi until released. It then makes its journey out to clean the raw water intake screens laying on the Potomac riverbed. The air burst begins its travel in an 8-inch stainless steel pipe, vertically down a 100-foot concrete shaft before turning horizontal and travelling another 200 feet in a dry concrete tunnel. The last 250 feet are traveled in one of eight HDPE pipes encased in concrete below the riverbed, erupting in one of 16 half-dome stainless steel intake screens.
The construction of this system was extremely challenging, and we are looking forward to bringing it online.