The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the Gowanus Canal to the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List in March 2010, and the City of New York was named as one of several potentially responsible parties. In 2014, the City of New York was directed to institute Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) controls consisting of the design and construction of retention tanks to intercept discharges from the two largest CSO discharges to Gowanus Canal.
Savin Engineers was tasked with the detailed design for the plumbing and fire protection systems of the proposed tanks’ superstructure. The plumbing scope involved limited traditional domestic water service of hot and cold water and a significant amount of process drainage throughout the facility. The fire protection system consisted of a wet automatic sprinkler system with associated heads and piping throughout the building and standpipes in the required stairwells with hose valves for firefighters’ use. The entire fire protection system was designed and sized to avoid the use of a fire pump in this unmanned facility.
Though straight forward with the plumbing and fire protection scope of work, the major effort during design involved the location and execution of the incoming and outgoing utilities as well as overall coordination of piping within the building utilizing 3D CAD. The facility’s superstructure is situated directly above the new CSO tanks and their substantial support structure. Every below grade utility pipe had to be precisely defined and coordinated with the civil, geotechnical and structural engineers when penetrating the slurry wall and to avoid footings.
