Ingersoll Wastewater Treatment Plant

Putting community at the heart of infrastructure design

As communities grow, infrastructure needs change. That’s true for all towns and cities—including Ingersoll, where decades of progressive growth triggered the need for additional wastewater treatment capabilities. When the county brought us on board to engineer the upgrade and expansion of Ingersoll’s existing plants, we knew: success would mean orchestrating a carefully synchronized project. One capable of keeping legacy facilities running, while simultaneously building out new and upgraded plants.

The big picture view is everything on complex initiatives of this scope and scale. By bringing together a strategic mix of skillsets and specialists, we created a unified team of knowledgeable leaders to design the project. What did that entail? Diving deep to understand Ingersoll’s existing and future needs, and laying out a progressive five-year work plan. Together, we would upgrade Ingersoll’s 1974 plant; conceive and construct a net-new conventional activated sludge (CAS)-based plant; and decommission and remove an original plant (in continuous operation since 1947).

This award-winning plan was seamless. It’s true power, though, lay in our ability to pair our recommended process with a proactive strategy for navigating critical risks along the way. Chief among them? The upgrades and new construction would need to take place while ensuring the oldest plant remained completely operational, and compliant with Ministry of Environment regulations. To accomplish that, we initiated a carefully timed relocation of existing bypass sewers, and primary underground electrical feeds. Using a fast-track approach, we launched a two-contract strategy for upgrading the second plant, and building the new one. This was key. The two-contract concept allowed us to shave an entire year off the construction schedule, when compared to more conventional, one-contract models. It also teed us up to stick-handle any unforeseen operability and constructability issues, or unplanned interruptions.

At every stage of execution, we leveraged strong relationships and deep local knowledge (dating back to our firm’s involvement in the original 1947 and 1974 plant designs) to stay two steps ahead of the game. Through smart construction sequencing and extensive stakeholder collaboration, we maximized the county’s return on investment.

Now, Ingersoll is leveraging a more efficient wastewater treatment network. Because the newest plant and strategic upgrades employ innovative designs and newer technology (think microwave sludge density meters), the network is also capable of meeting much more stringent effluent criteria. Ingersoll now rates for a significantly larger capacity, and both the municipality and the county are best prepared to seize the upside of future population growth.