Provost & Pritchard provided engineering design services to expand and improve the wastewater treatment facilities and water facilities at the Lerdo Detention Facility in Kern County to accommodate a new jail facility.   The new jail will add 822 beds, increasing the inmate population from 2,500 to 3,322 persons. The project also involved site civil design, including grading, drainage, geometric design of roadways and parking areas, pavement, curb and gutter, striping and fencing.

Water System Improvements

The water improvements included the construction of two new pilot holes, which will be converted to two new water supply wells; a new oxidation/filtration water treatment plant located at the South Zone Facility; filter backwash disposal either to the wastewater ponds or into a tank and reclaim system; sodium hypochlorite, sodium bisulfite, and corrosion inhibitor chemical feed systems; one new 1 to 1.25 million gallon water storage tank at the South Zone Facility; new booster pumping station located at the South Zone Facility; two water distribution system interconnections to consolidate the north and south water distribution zones; a masonry building to house the booster pumps and electrical switchgear for the new facility; transmission pipelines from the new supply wells to the water storage tank and to the wastewater effluent holding ponds for flush-to-waste and a standby power generator.

Wastewater System Improvements

Design of the wastewater improvements includes new headworks with screening, an open channel flow meter, an extended aeration activated sludge system with N/dN capability utilizing a process similar to Biolac Wave Ox, and a single concrete-lined basin with blowers for aeration. The design also includes two circular clarifiers with a RAS/WAS pump station, mechanical sludge dewatering system with dewatered sludge storage area, effluent pump station, new unlined effluent storage ponds, enlarged effluent distribution system for disposal of undisinfected effluent, standby power generator, SCADA system with integration by contractor, and a new control building.