Bridging the Force Main Generational Gap – System Expansion for a Growing Community

The Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA) provides potable water, wastewater, and natural gas service to approximately 18,000 customers in Fort Pierce, Florida and the surrounding area. The goal of this project was to prepare a comprehensive Water and Wastewater Master Plan which provided detailed information on the existing FPUA water and wastewater systems as well as an in-depth evaluation of the future of those systems. In order to analyze the existing force main collection system and to plan the required capital improvements, hydraulic models were created utilizing both SewerCAD and WaterGEMS. These tools were used to determine how best to modify the existing FPUA system to accommodate growth in the community and to prepare for the development of a new Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) while first maintaining, and then abandoning, the existing WRF.