A massive, 14-MG clearwell reservoir was designed for the City's Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant.

The clearwell was needed to replace one of two existing clearwells after a sudden roof collapse. The $37 million project involved the design and construction of a 330-foot diameter in-ground prestressed concrete clearwell, more than 1,200 feet of cast-in-place concrete inlet and outlet conduit, and three large junction structures. The clearwell was designed and constructed in less than a year as part of a fast track, design/build emergency contract with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD).

The clearwell structure is supported by nearly 1,600 drilled concrete caissons installed under the bottom slab of the tank.  
 
Extending 37 feet into the ground, the clearwell is large enough to hold a football field and is capable of passing up to 400 million gallons of water every day for delivery to consumers in Detroit and its northern suburbs. Treated water flows from the Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant via a network of buried tunnel-like conduit measuring 18 feet wide and 14 feet high. Nearly 30,000 cubic yards of concrete was used in constructing the project, supplied from a batch plant set up on site. ARCADIS served as the lead design consultant on the project.

As the lead consultant, ARCADIS coordinated the design work of four other engineering firms and worked closely with the five design/build contractors and the two DWSD oversight consultants in the construction of the project. At the job site, ARCADIS field representatives were on-hand to answer questions from contractors and ensure that construction proceeded according to design. The City also relied on ARCADIS to develop and carry out an extensive system of quality control monitoring for the project.

The project was substantially completed on schedule in August 2000 as water began flowing through the clearwell and conduits to the high service pumping building.