Boone WTP Master Plan & Transmission System Improvements

Ardurra delivered comprehensive water infrastructure expansion for the Town of Boone, successfully designing and constructing a new 6-MGD raw water intake system, expanding the existing water treatment plant from 3-MGD to 4.5-MGD capacity, and installing 12 miles of 24-inch water transmission main. The integrated approach addressed growing water demands while maintaining continuous operations on a constrained site.

The team secured $34.75 million in funding through strategic coordination, including a $1.8 million USDA-RD grant, a $32.5 million USDA-RD low-interest loan, and a $450,000 NC Rural Center loan, making this critical infrastructure expansion financially feasible. Extensive alternative analysis led to the selection of an infiltration gallery design that eliminated permanent impacts on aesthetics, recreation, and stream flow.

Water treatment plant improvements included upgraded flocculators, rapid mixers, settling basins, filters, and chemical feed equipment, plus onsite chlorine generation replacement and a second clearwell. The design maintained plant operations throughout construction while increasing capacity by 50%. Strategic booster pump station placement mitigated high pressures from significant elevation gains, with three 2-MGD vertical turbine pumps and one 4-MGD backwash pump ensuring system redundancy.

Extensive NCDOT coordination enabled the installation of six miles of raw water main within the New US Highway 421 median, requiring comprehensive geotechnical investigations and alternative analyses. The project included five South Fork New River crossings via horizontal directional drilling and multiple tributary stream crossings.