Borough of Chambersburg Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade – The ARRO Group

Serving the Borough of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, as well as the surrounding townships of Hamilton, Green and Guilford, The Borough of Chambersburg Wastewater Treatment Plant (CWTP) was in need of an upgrade to accommodate future growth of the surrounding communities and to provide enhanced treatment. With construction beginning in August 2013, the project is slated for completion in December 2016.

The CWTP project began in 2010 when the Chambersburg Borough Council selected the design team of AECOM/ARRO for the job of designing the plant upgrade and expansion.  The treatment plant upgrade was publically bid in March 2013 and Chambersburg selected the Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based ARRO Group to manage the construction project.

ARRO provides professional engineering and environmental consulting services to municipal, industrial and commercial enterprises. In addition to designing water/wastewater treatment plants, ARRO offers a wide range of services to its clients, including completing environmental compliance reports and providing structural/electrical/SCADA engineering services.

A collaborative effort

Dale Kopp, project manager for ARRO, says that one of the highlights of being on the CWTP project has been the collaboration with all contractors involved. The general contractor on the job was Bethlehem-based Michael F. Ronca & Sons Inc. For electrical work Ronca used Garden Spot Electric out of Manheim, Pennsylvania. “We were very excited when we found out who we would be working with,” says Kopp. “We have worked with them before and they are all very well respected.”

Built in 1962, CWTP received its last major upgrade in 1997. With a current treatment capacity of 6.8 million gallons per day, the upgrade and expansions raise the daily capacity to approximately 11.2 million gallons. “This is more or less a complex plant rebuild,” says Lance Anderson, water and sewer superintendent for Borough of Chambersburg. “Numerous capacity enhancements were needed as well as additional tank structures to support the increased water capacity.”

Out with the old

Anderson says that the biggest challenge that has been faced in the CWTP project is the fact that some form of a plant has been present on the site since 1912. With areas that have been filled in over the years, construction crews have been forced to deal with old structures that were not part of the original construction plan. “There have been tank foundations that were buried that we’ve had to remove or build on top of,” says Anderson. “There has also been abandoned piping throughout the plant that we have had to deal with.”

Kopp echoes Anderson’s statements from an engineering perspective. “There have been a lot of interferences that we have had to work around,” he says. “That’s pretty typical in any expansion project and this plant has been expanded upon a number of times.” Kopp also notes that the harsh winters of 2013 and 2014 put restraints on concrete pouring.

In completing a job such as CWTP, Kopp and his team review the success of the project based on numerous factors, one of them being the overall collaboration of all parties involved. “It has to be a complete team effort,” says Kopp. “There are always going to be issues that present themselves on every project. We had a great collaboration on this project, especially between the engineers, contractor and owner. There were a few complications that no one could have anticipated and everyone’s knowledge and expertise made it run smoothly.”

Kopp has been with ARRO for 47 years. The company’s roots date back to 1946 when two separate organizations, Henry F. Huth and the environmental division of Gilbert Associates Inc. were established. Both grew along similar paths in their respective regions of Pennsylvania as they consistently demonstrated responsiveness to their clients’ needs. This tradition coupled with strong core principles have built The Arro Group into the industry leader that it is today.