Furl Williams Upground Reservoir

The City of Lima, Ohio retained S&ME to design, permit, and administer construction of a new 5.9-billion gallon upground (aka off-channel or off-stream) reservoir.  As part of this work, S&ME also completed a subsurface investigation for an associated pump station and pipeline.

The reservoir site covers 640 acres.  S&ME completed subsurface exploration and laboratory testing of on-site materials for use in the embankment.  S&ME served as the lead designer for this large earthwork project, including obtaining an Ohio EPA Drinking Water Permit to install and an Ohio Dam Safety Program Construction Permit.  The embankment is approximately 3.6 miles long with a maximum height of 57 feet.  Construction included stripping 240,000 cubic yards of topsoil; installation of 12,900 feet of storm drains; placement of 57,250 cubic yards of riprap; seeding 280,000 square yards; and placement of 4,070,000 cubic yards of structural fill.

S&ME provided construction administration, including staffing of both day and night shifts.  S&ME performed 10,200 field density tests on the structural fill to verify compaction requirements.  Construction required the importation of over 300,000 tons of materials (principally stone and sand aggregate).  S&ME coordinated the repair of local roadways after construction was completed.

In addition to the reservoir design, S&ME completed the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) and Operations, Maintenance, and Inspection (OM&I) Manual in compliance with Ohio Dam Safety requirements.

S&ME helped the City obtain permits from the Corps of Engineers and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to fill 12 acres of Category 1 and 2 jurisdictional wetlands and 1,300 linear feet of jurisdictional streams. The design avoided the higher quality Category 3 wooded wetlands. new wooded wetlands and improved stream channels were designed for mitigation.  In addition to designing the stream mitigation, S&ME negotiated easements with adjacent landowners.  This included negotiating a land-swap for cost savings.  The final stream mitigation exceeded the required limits, and the City was able to ‘bank’ the additional length for future mitigation requirements.

Highlights

• The City encourages public use of the reservoir
• The project included fish habitat enhancements, a boat ramp, walking trail, and picnic areas for the local residents