The 2018 Sherwin-Williams Impact Award program recognizes application contractors, specifiers, and owners for excellence on North American water and wastewater projects that influence public safety, asset protection, and infrastructure life cycle improvement. This year a 3-million-gallon water storage tank restoration project in The Dalles, Ore. took the top honor.
Winners were announced during a ceremony at the Water Environment Federation’s Annual WEFTEC Conference on Oct. 2, 2018, in New Orleans. Eligible projects included any water-related structure that was new, restored, and/or rehabilitated in 2017, which features coating and lining materials from Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings.
“We established the Sherwin-Williams Impact Award to honor demanding water and wastewater projects and recognize those professionals committed to enhancing public safety, protecting assets, and extending infrastructure life,” says Kevin Morris, Market Segment Director, Water & Wastewater, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings. “The winning project faced unique challenges that none of the parties involved had ever encountered. We all worked together to devise a plan that would ensure adhesion of the water tank’s coating systems and prevent smoke from adversely impacting the community’s water quality.”
2018 Sherwin-Williams Impact Award Winner - HCI Industrial & Marine Coatings Inc., CH2M Inc., and The City Of The Dalles, Ore. – Columbia View Reservoir Water Storage Restoration
The Eagle Creek Fire erupted on Sept. 2, 2017, burning more than 50,000 acres in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon and Washington over the course of three months. HCI had just commenced the restoration process about 70 miles east of the fire; downwind smoke was being sucked into the cut-out access entry for the tank, presenting air quality concerns during interior blasting and application steps, as well as potential contamination of the lining.
The crews devised a plan to protect the quality of the project by ensuring adhesion of the coating system and preventing smoke contamination in the interior coating to avoid adversely impacting water quality.
HCI applicators were permitted to move forward with blasting and coating – but with restrictions based on hourly air quality readings. Using monitoring data provided by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the crew avoided applying coatings during hours in which the measure of atmospheric particuate matter (PM) had a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, or below established thresholds. For the prime and intermediate coats, the one-hour PM2.5 could not be greater than 35 micrograms (μg)/m³ (100 AGI). To prevent smoke odor contamination within the topcoat, applicators had to ensure the one-hour PM2.5 readings were no greater than 20 μg/m³ (67 AGI).
An air filtering system was set up to minimize smoke inside the tank with the interior prepped by abrasive-blasting it to an SSPC-SP5 surface. Using Macropoxy 5500LT, a high-solids, polyamidoamine epoxy tank lining developed for potable water storage tanks, crews spray-applied a 4-mil minimum dry film thickness (MDFT) prime coat in white. Next, they applied a 3-mil MDFT stripe coat of light blue Macropoxy 5500LT on all weld seams to ensure a higher film build on these rougher areas. The final lining system had a 12-mil MDFT on all non-stripe-coated areas and a 15-mil MDFT on all stripe-coated areas. The alternating colors enabled the crew to ensure complete coverage of each coat.
HCI followed the PM guidelines on the tanks exterior to ensure strong adhesion of the coating system. The crew abrasive-blasted the steel tank to an SSPC-SP11 surface and then applied a direct-to-metal prime coat of Industrial Pro-Cryl Universal Acrylic Primer at 3 mil MDFT, followed by an additional 1.8 mil to 3.6-mil DFT coat of the self-crosslinking acrylic primer after the base layer cured. For the topcoat, they applied one to two coats of Sher-Cryl HPA, an acrylic semi-gloss coating, at 2.5-4 mil DFT per coat.
After each coat cured throughout the project, workers conducted a wipe test to check for PM before applying the subsequent coat. If a test showed evidence of smoke deposits, the crew had to clean the surface before applying the next coat.
As part of its quality control process, the city logged the DEQ’s one-hour PM2.5 data each hour that coating activity took place, noting which section of the tank was coated during that time. If a lining or exterior coating failure were to occur in the future, this data would allow the city to determine if smoke levels may have been the cause.Through careful planning, attention to detail, and open communication, HCI was able to complete a successful tank restoration for the city of The Dalles.
Impact Award Runner-Up - Cor-Ray Painting Co., Black & Veatch, And International Boundary And Water Commission – San Diego's South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion
Cor-Ray Painting Co. completed the SBIWTP infrastructure improvements for the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC). Global engineering, procurement, construction, and consulting company Black & Veatch served as construction manager and coatings inspector.
The SBIWTP is a 25-million-gallon-per-day secondary treatment plant that treats sewage originating in Tijuana, Mexico. The plant’s expansion included a new secondary sediment tank, as well as new equalization basins, and influent and effluent channels. To apply protective concrete coatings to these assets, the Cor-Ray Painting crew abrasive-blast cleaned the concrete surfaces per SSPC-SP13 guidelines to deliver an ICRI 310.2 concrete surface profile (CSP) of 4-6 with light to medium scarification for best adhesion.
The Cor-Ray painting crew applied Steel-Seam FT910 Epoxy Patching and Surfacing Compound by trowel to fill larger surface voids. The concrete surfaces were primed with Corobond 100 Epoxy Primer/Sealers at 4-8 mil dry film thickness (DFT). To ensure complete coverage, the crew used a heavy nap roller to back roll the spray-applied primer into the concrete’s pores before spraying a final epoxy seal coat.
For the intermediate coat, the crew applied Dura-Plate 6100 to the primed surfaces at 20 mils DFT. Using steel finishing trowels, forced the sprayed material into bugholes and surface irregularities to provide additional adhesion, as well as smooth the top surface. For the finish coat, the crew was able to spray the product at a thickness of 110-140 mils DFT in a single pass. They terminated the coating system at all joints in the concrete and installed a polysulfide sealant in those surfaces.
Finally, to seal the various joints, applicators cleaned, prepared, and profiled the joint substrates and a 1/4 inch of the adjacent coatings to an ICRI 310.2 CSP of 3-5. Next, they applied PolySpec Thiokol 5050 Epoxy Primer at 3-5 mils to the prepared surfaces. After installing closed-cell backer rods into joints, the crew sealed the joint surfaces and the 1/4-inch prepared coating surfaces using PolySpec Thiokol 2235M elastomeric joint sealant.
Impact Award Runner Up - Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Waterworks 1-Million-Gallon Elevated Water Storage Tank Restoration in Houma, La.
The intermediate restoration of a dilapidated 1-million-gallon elevated water storage tank was performed by the parish’s in-house maintenance team.
Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Waterworks worked with Sherwin-Williams to develop an overcoat system that would revive the rusted appearance of the tank and extend the life of the existing coating system. The selected cleaning and application method enabled a three-man crew to complete the project.
The maintenance crew first pressure-washed the top half of the tank using 4,000-psi minimum pressure. They next spot-primed the bowl of the tank using Macropoxy 646 Fast Cure Epoxy, a polyamide epoxy that can be applied directly to marginally prepared steel, while ensuring adequate protection of sharp edges, corners, and welds. The team then primed the entire top half of the bowl using Macropoxy 920 Pre-Prime, a 100% solids, epoxy primer designed to penetrate tight-rusted surfaces on marginally prepared steel.
Following priming, the waterworks crew applied two gloss white coats of Pro Industrial DTM Acrylic using an airless pump with a custom power roller assembly. The water-based, corrosion-resistant acrylic coating is designed for light to moderate industrial use and will help enhance the tank’s aesthetics until it undergoes a complete restoration in the future. By using the power roller assembly, the team was able to drastically reduce the project’s cost by both minimizing the crew size and eliminating the need to set up scaffolding.
Honorable Mention - Kimery Painting Inc., Crist Engineers Inc., and Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority- 7.5 Million-Gallon Water Storage Tank and Clarifier Restorations
Extensive restoration and repair were performed on the 7.5-million-gallon water storage tank and two clarifiers for the Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority (BWRPWA) in Arkansas. Kimery Painting Inc. (KPI) handled rehabilitation with Crist Engineers Inc. serving as the project engineering firm.
BWRPWA serves Northwest Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma, and Southwest Missouri and was looking for an SSPC QP 1-certified contractor to complete the remote storage tank restoration, as well as the restoration of clarifiers at the authority’s water treatment plant. KPI secured the bid.
To restore the interior of the 145-foot-diameter, 50-foot-tall ground storage tank, the crew broke the project into sections and followed a four-step process involving surface prep, priming, stripe coating, and topcoating. To remove the existing lining and any contaminants, each section was abrasive-blasted to the SSPC-SP10 Near-White Blast Cleaning standard. Using an airless sprayer, they then applied Corothane I – GalvaPac Zinc Primer 1K as a hold primer at 3-5 mils DFT. Next, they applied a stripe coat of the plural-component SherPlate PW Epoxy coating system on all corners, welds, and edges to ensure a sufficient film build. For the topcoat, they sprayed the interior with a 25 to 30-mil layer of the SherPlate PW Epoxy material.
KPI performed SSPC-SP6 Commercial Blast Cleaning surface preparation followed by a three-coat system to the exterior. Corothane I – GalvaPac Zinc Primer 1K was the exterior primer. Then they applied a 4 to 6-mil DFT intermediate coat of Macropoxy 646 Fast Cure Epoxy, which has a high-solids content and good brush/roll application characteristics to ensure protection of sharp edges, corners, and welds. For the topcoat, they applied Hi-Solids Polyurethane MR, a gloss- and color-retentive coating at 3-5 mil DFT. Finally, KPI added a 20-foot-diameter logo using Fluorokem HS, a high-solids fluoropolymer urethane designed for extreme weather durability, at 2-3.5 mils DFT.
To address the two approximately 80-foot-diameter by 5-foot-deep water treatment plant clarifiers, KPI performed SSPC-SP10 Near-White Blast Cleaning to remove all contaminants from the steel. Next, they replaced some steel, patched some areas with welds, and applied Steel-Seam FT910 Epoxy Patching and Surfacing Compound into deep pits. The KPI then applied two coats of Macropoxy 646, totaling 12-14 mils, while stripe coating all welds and crevices prior to applying each coat. KPI also coated the clarifiers’ walkways and other areas above the waterline using Hi-Solids Polyurethane.
