Kleinfelder is providing key structural engineering services on this $220-million project to expand the treatment capacity of the Riverside Regional Water Quality Control Plant (RWQCP) from 40 to 46 million gallons per day (MGD)—increasing the plant’s biogas recovery and improving energy efficiency along the way.

Unique Factors, Universal Goals

The upgrade’s very advanced equipment posed unique challenge. The new anaerobic digesters, for example, involved high-velocity mixing that could prove harmful to the structure housing the equipment. The many pipe openings in the digester complex could compromise the building’s structural integrity. Kleinfelder would need to account for these and other site-specific design challenges, while minimizing impact to the surrounding environment and ensuring long-term reliability.

Specialized Solutions

Kleinfelder’s expert structural engineers performed thorough analyses and modeling to develop fitting solutions to the RWQCP’s unique set of challenges. Solutions included a new 11.3-million-gallon equalization basin, pressure relief valves installed to relieve groundwater pressure, and a thick concrete mat foundation to resist hydrostatic uplift.

Project Results

In addition to driving a successful structural engineering upgrade to the RWQCP, Kleinfelder is helping to ensure the project’s goal of increasing long-term structural integrity with minimal environmental impact—eliminating risk, increasing load capacity, and ensuring wastewater treatment to the 300,000-plus-person population of Riverside.

Project Details

Location:
Riverside, California

Owner:
City of Riverside