The January 2025 completion of the expanded municipal wastewater treatment plant in Jeffersonville, Indiana, will help support the town’s continued economic development. PENETRON ADMIX SB, a crystalline concrete waterproofing admixture, was specified for durability and to maximize the service life of the new treatment plant.
Often referred to as “Jeff,” the city of Jeffersonville is located on the Ohio River within the Louisville (Kentucky) metro area. The city has around 50,000 residents, a commercial port, and the River Ridge Commerce Center, a major economic driver for Jeffersonville, an industrial area that is home to manufacturing, logistics, and research companies.
“Faced with infrastructure bottlenecks, the city of Jeffersonville and the River Ridge Development Authority agreed to fund the expansion of the previous North Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), doubling treatment capacity to help with development and attract additional businesses in the future,” explains Richard Farmer, Eastern Regional Sales Manager for Penetron USA.
The expanded North WWTP has an average flow capacity of 3.0 million gallons per day (MGD) with a peak hourly flow capacity of 9.0 MGD; 2.0 MGD of this treatment capacity is dedicated to River Ridge. The significant additional capacity also gives the plant the ability to capture and treat additional flow during wet weather events.
The first phase of construction included the expansion of the existing headworks building, a new oxidation ditch with biological nutrient removal, new clarifiers, a new RAS/WAS system, UV disinfection improvements, sludge digestion system and processing improvements, chemical feed building for phosphorus removal, and an upgrade of the existing municipal process control system to monitor the city’s wastewater lift stations.
During the planning stage of the project, the project engineers at Bernardin, Lochmueller & Associates specified PENETRON ADMIX SB, a crystalline waterproofing admixture, as a durable waterproofing solution to protect the plant’s concrete structures from corrosion and chemical attack as a result of the constant exposure to the effluent.
Ernst Concrete, the ready-mix concrete supplier, added PENETRON ADMIX SB to the concrete mix during the batching phase. Around 9,800 yds3 (12,840 m3) of PENETRON ADMIX-treated ready-mix concrete were used for the $30 million project.
“Thanks to our practical pre-measured packaging in soluble bags and economic pricing, PENETRON ADMIX SB was chosen to enhance concrete durability in Southern Indiana,” adds Richard Farmer.
Maximizing service life: Jeffersonville’s expanded WWTP relied on Penetron's durable crystalline waterproofing solution to protect the new concrete structures from corrosion and chemical attack.
