ISU engineering students partner with public works department
Four senior engineering students from Idaho State University been working together to determine beneficial reuse applications for 7 million gallons of treated wastewater from Pocatello’s treatment plant.
The goal of the partnership was to give the students real-world experience, but the city got some good notes for possible operations in the future.
The partnership has been going on all school year, with the first semester dedicated to coming up with solutions. Right now, the wastewater is discharged into the Portneuf River, since there are no existing assets to collect or deliver the water.
“At first, we came up with more than 12 different alternatives, and we tried to narrow them to get the best solution,” said Fatimah Alhaddad, the group’s project manager.
The group of Alhaddad, Caryn Wendt, Zaid Almansour and Helal Alshaibani decided to create a reservoir and to transport the water to different sites in the city. The system for transporting the water would be eight miles worth of pipes and the reservoir would be 45 acres.
The water could be used for irrigation, fire suppression, industrial use and aquifer recharge.
Mike Jaglowski, the city’s public works director, acted as the group’s mentor, but said he left the ideas to them. While they’re not necessarily ready-to-apply, Jaglowski said the ideas provide a good foundation for the city.
“We would really carve on that a lot. We would change it,” he said. “However, the basis (they came up with), I think it’s pretty sound.”
The idea their work could be used for real applications in the future is both a scary thought and a sense of accomplishment for the students.
“It’s a good feeling to know they’re, maybe, going to be using our design calculations, our thoughts, and take it into real consideration for a project they’ll do,” said Wendt.
When they first started the project, the group set their maximum cost at $15 million. Their final cost estimate ended up being just under $10 million.
Jaglowski said there will definitely be more partnerships between the city and ISU in the future.
