The City of San Angelo (City) historically relied on a combination of surface water sources for use in its drinking water supply, but “drought of record” conditions severely impacted the available capacity of surface water supplies. For this reason, the City began identifying and implementing alternative water supply sources, including groundwater from the Hickory Aquifer. The City completed phase I (8 million gallons per day {MGD}) of the Hickory Aquifer Supply Project in 2011. The City hired eHT to implement Phase II of the Hickory Groundwater Supply Project, which brought the available supply from this source up to a reliable 12 MGD.

The expansion began at the City’s Hickory Well Field in McCulloch County, Texas and added five new public water supply production wells. Improvements at the Hickory Well Field to accommodate the new production wells included the completion of wellheads, well pumps, electrical, controls, well site improvements; interconnecting piping and appurtenances; extension of the site roadway system; and expansion of the existing booster pump station to reliably provide a pumping capacity of 12.0 MGD to the City’s groundwater treatment plant (GWTP).

To support the increase of water production from the well field, the City’s GWTP also incorporated improvements including the expansion of the oxidation contactor system; expansion of the iron removal filtration system; expansion of the radium reduction system; construction of a new duplex low-head pump station; and construction of two new 2.0 MG precast concrete clearwells, all with associated interconnecting piping, appurtenances, electrical, and controls.

The groundwater wells and an expanded GWTP, designed to remove radionuclides, allowed the City to maximize aquifer production to meet potable water demands.  In addition to the new groundwater wells and expanded treatment facility, other critical elements of the project included the replacement of an existing clearwell at the City’s GWTP; wellfield collection and transmission system expansion and improvements; and SCADA system improvements.