The Water Pollution Control Facility is located along the Gloucester Harbor waterfront in Gloucester, Massachusetts, which flows out to the North Atlantic Ocean.
This center is responsible for water treatment for the local community, which is vital to safety and health. With coastal flooding, unexpected flash flooding, and predicted future sea level rise, this facility needed flood mitigation solutions to protect its’ operations, employees, and infrastructure.
With the need to upgrade their flood protection, the City of Gloucester initiated a coastal resiliency improvement project. Their main focus was to find a solution that protects the infrastructure, prevents any operation interruption and flooding damages.
Four FloodBreak passive automatic floodgates were installed at flood wall openings in the perimeter protection that includes an earthen berm, a steel sheetpile wall, and a cast-in-place concrete wall. The four self-deploying flood gates provide 24/7 access and 24/7 flood protection without the need for personnel to deploy the barriers in the event of a flood. In non-flood conditions, the gates lie hidden, flush with grade allowing for pedestrian and vehicular passage. The concept is simple and proven – let the water work against itself to automatically float the buoyant aluminum panel to the upright position, activating the self-sealing rubber gaskets and closing off the opening.
With the versatile design, the largest gate at this location is 20’x 7′ and the smallest is 3’x 3′. The ability to protect both large and smaller vulnerable openings provides complete protection with multiple sizes & applications of our floodgates for customer sites.
The Water Pollution Control Facility is now protected against coastal flooding & future sea level rise without relying on people or power to deploy their floodgates and protect the facility. With completion of the Flood Resilience Improvements, WPCF can confidently invest in their future treatment upgrades planned in the coming years.
