Safe and Effective Coal Ash Dewatering Project History


Safe and effective management of coal-combustible residuals is imperative.

Not only for EPA compliance, but to maintain the integrity of your excavations and to stay on schedule and within budget.

Read below to learn about a successful recent coal ash dewatering project that Griffin delivered:

Project Background

The project consisted of lowering the groundwater and dewatering the coal ash basin to allow for the excavation of residual ash accumulated in the basin. In addition to this, it supported the installation of a new liner which allowed the ash pond to be reused.

The 40 acre basin was located near a large river and required the ground water level to be lowered over 25’ to to allow for the safe, stable and dry installation of the new pond liner.  The project also required diverting channel flows from plant operations and treating the effluent discharge water that was discharged into an adjacent pond.

Griffin’s Solution

Griffin’s engineering team utilized experience and knowledge of the regional geotechnical conditions and leveraged 3D modeling software to provide an efficient and effective dewatering design to meet the project objectives.  Griffin’s treatment group incorporated into the team to meet the discharge turbidity requirements.

The Griffin solution consisted of 45 deep wells to lower the groundwater table, a 700’ wick/wellpoint system to dewater saturated ash, various large capacity pumps to dewater the basin as well as divert channel flows from plant operations and a treatment system to be installed in line of the dewatering discharge piping.  Griffin field crews were procured to operate the system to ensure that it will be properly operated for several years.

Since 1934, Griffin has designed and delivered thousands of successful dewatering solutions—all tailored to the variables unique to each project. Every ash pond is unique. Stabilizing coal combustion residuals for excavation requires engineering design, operational expertise, and experienced supervision that only a national leader in dewatering can provide.