Our team in Fort Collins provided electrical services for a water treatment facility. Even with unforeseen scheduling challenges, they successfully delivered for the client. Now, we are celebrating with the team for this award-winning project.
IECRM Summit Awards
Independent Electrical Contractors Rocky Mountain (IECRM) is one of 50 chapters in Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) for electrical and systems contractors across the US. IECRM is dedicated to educating and improving the electrical industry through an apprenticeship program, leadership programs, safety classes and more.
Each year, IECRM recognizes people and projects involved in electrical, construction and green building fields. These awards recognize the best and the brightest in the electrical construction. This year, one of our projects in Loveland, CO, received the Project of the Year award in the Industrial Projects – Up to $2 million category. Nick Wathier, Project Manager at Interstates, commented, “There are many other great electrical contractors in IECRM, and it’s an honor to receive this award.” Eric Novotny, Superintendent at Interstates, adds, “I always tell my teams to take pride in their works, and now that work is rewarded.”
Boyd Lake Baffle Wall and Pump Station Improvements
Our Fort Collins, CO office made electrical construction improvements to the Boyd Lake water treatment facility in Loveland, CO. This water treatment facility provides seasonal drinking water to Greeley water customers – up to 38 million gallons per day. Built in 1974, the facility has received few upgrades over the years.
The City of Greeley needed to update aging equipment in various parts of the water treatment plant. We reconfigured the filter building and replaced switchgear that was at its end of life. The crew also installed new electrical in the treated water return vault. Eric Novotny, Superintendent at Interstates, explains, “When the plant was meeting demand, it would dump all the clean water back into the lake. Now, instead of doing that, they can shut the incoming water off and dump the clean water back into the plant, circulating the clean water until the City of Greeley needs it. This upgrade will save them a significant amount of money.”
Tight working windows and long lead times caused scheduling headaches. The new medium voltage switchgear and new VFDs arrived later than initially scheduled. “That caused us to have to do some work out of sequence,” says Wathier. “We had to install all conduit, tray, and cable before installing the switchgear to stay on track with the schedule.” Once the MCC did arrive, the project’s structural engineer had concerns that the equipment would be too heavy to sit on the concrete pad prepared for it. “There was talk of removing the building’s roof to crane the MCC in. In the end, we did get approval from the engineers to get it into the building using regular means,” says Wathier.
Finishing on time and budget is always a priority, but Wathier had additional measures of the project’s success: “We had no safety incidents or accidents on this job, and that’s important. We also formed solid relationships with the client and general contractor.” Novotny said, “I couldn’t do my job without the help of the team I have.” Congrats to those involved in this project.
