The raw water reservoir at The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) Mont Alto provides potable water to the major buildings and residences on campus. The water system includes Tarburner Spring, a 40,000-gallon raw water reservoir, a water treatment system, a 150,000-gallon finished water tank, and distribution system. Upon inspection, we determined the structural integrity and expected useful life of the raw water reservoir was in poor condition and needed to be retired from service. RETTEW worked with PSU to develop alternatives to eliminate the existing raw water reservoir and retain the functionality required for water system operations.

RETTEW evaluated three alternatives with reliability, construction costs, operations and maintenance costs, land ownership concerns, access for maintenance, and concerns regarding raw waterline freezing in mind. The first alternative was to replace the existing raw water reservoir with a new reservoir near Tarburner Spring. The second was to replace the existing raw water reservoir with a new reservoir near the water treatment building with one of two options: a ground- mounted storage tank with pumping system or an elevated storage tank. The final alternative was to expand the capacity of the Tarburner Spring box. RETTEW compared technical criteria and lifecycle costs to identify the most technically feasible and
cost-effective alternative.