Hardwire ArmorStone Secures Chicago's Water Supply

Water. Our most precious commodity. Turn on a faucet and water flows freely for drinking, cooking, bathing and keeping lawns green. In going about our daily lives, most of us never give a second thought to threats that might endanger our water supply. Unless, of course, you are responsible for one of the world's largest water treatment plants.

The James W. Jardine Water Purification Plant in Chicago, Ill., along with the South Water Purification Plant, provides water for approximately 5-million people in the City of Chicago and its 125 suburbs. With a rated capacity of 1.5-billion gallons a day, the Jardine plant processes approximately 700 million gallons of water on an average day.

To keep this water supply secure, the Chicago Department of Water Management invested to improve the infrastructure of the Jardine plant, concentrating on providing security protection for critical components.

Teng & Associates, a design and engineering firm, was chosen to design various elements of the project, including security improvements. According to Teng Senior Associate, John R. Hillman, who was Project Manager for the project, they needed to harden the target or create deterrents to further protect certain critical components of the facility.

"At one point, we were looking at ways to just create a façade to disguise these portions of the facility," said Hillman. "We were considering the installation of some sort of barrier that included a ‘veil' to disguise the presence of certain features at the plant." It was at this point that Hillman realized "Hardwire ArmorStone" -- a patent-pending granite-faced composite panel developed by Hardwire, LLC and Cold Spring Granite Company that provides high levels of both ballistic and blast protection -- would be a perfect solution for the water plant.

"With Hardwire ArmorStone, we were able to provide more than just a façade to disguise certain features of the plant," commented Hillman. "We were able to supply a ballistic armor that provided greater protection, further hardened the target and was aesthetically pleasing. Hardwire ArmorStone gave us disguise and security features in a single solution." Randy Huber, Senior Product Manager for Hardwire ArmorStone at Cold Spring Granite, explained why providing security for public structures is a very sensitive issue in today's world.

"What you don't want is people having to work in a structure or building that has a ‘bunker-feeling' to it," said Huber. "People don't want to be reminded on a daily basis that they live in a world full of threats."

"This is just one example of the innovative work done by Hardwire and its partners to create leading-edge armor solutions to meet the emerging needs of our customers and our country," stated Hardwire CEO George Tunis, "including vehicle armor kits for the military's Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, armor for critical domestic transportation infrastructure, facility overhead protection for the U.S. military overseas, and the development of a new standard in base vehicle armor that surpasses critical performance requirements. Chicago is a great and important city, and we're pleased to be able to provide this important protection."

According to Dan Rea, Senior Vice President, Commercial Group of Cold Spring Granite, Hardwire ArmorStone provides inconspicuous protection at an economical price. "You don't have to build a fortress to protect a building or structure," Rea noted. "You end up with a granite façade just like any other granite-façade building, but with the added feature of ballistic and blast protection. Simply, with Hardwire ArmorStone, design does not have to be sacrificed for the sake of security."

Further, because Hardwire ArmorStone is available and customizable using Cold Spring Granite's extensive offerings, which total more than 500 combinations of colors and finishes, it is especially attractive to architects and designers. A customer can have a granite façade and Cold Spring Granite can add any number of architectural details.

"The key differentiator of this solution is the fact that designers and owners can quantify the threat, and we can qualify a solution that has been tested extensively and can be engineered to meet a range of threat levels," said Rea.

For the Jardine application, Hardwire ArmorStone proved to be the ideal application. "By using Hardwire ArmorStone, we were able to create what appears to be a purely aesthetic improvement to the plant, while at the same time reinforcing the façade with a ballistic armor that no one is even aware exists," said Hillman.

Other options for the water plant, such as pouring 2-feet of concrete to protect the structure, were not feasible due to weight restrictions and the limited amount of space available on the worksite. "The Hardwire ArmorStone panels were hung on the existing building and on the existing fence," said Huber. "There was a 2-foot catwalk between the building and the fence, so the panels were a perfect fit for this application."

"This project represents one of many utility and infrastructure protection programs completed by Hardwire and Cold Spring Granite over the last two years and underway currently," reported John Hammond, Hardwire Vice President for Business Development. "We're very excited about this new category-leading product that combines both a very high level of protection with economy, and frankly, style. Affordable, beautiful, and robust is what we and Cold Spring set out to achieve."

The Jardine plant, situated on a piece of land off the shore of Chicago, juts out into Lake Michigan. Installation posed no problems, as large cranes were used to drop the panels in place on the plant.

"This proved to be an extremely cost-effective solution," Hillman commented. "In many ways, this was a very simple application of the technology. It was quite easy to integrate Hardwire ArmorStone into the existing structure. It was no more difficult than putting up a granite curtain wall."

Hardwire ArmorStone can be used on many other applications also, such as office buildings, laboratories, courthouses, libraries, museums and utility facilities. "Any place where blast and/or ballistic protection are needed," said Huber.

"It really is a lightweight, good-looking option to the alternative," Huber noted. "The alternative being a lot of thick, poured-in-place concrete which is not very attractive, and then you still would want to put something in front of all that concrete to make it look better."

Space-savings is another reason to consider using Hardwire ArmorStone. With building interior square footage at such a premium, it is important to utilize that footage as best as possible. The City of Chicago was very pleased with the outcome of the rehabilitation project on the Jardine water treatment plant. According to Hillman, Hardwire ArmorStone was able to meet their budget and time period, and they liked how it looked.

"Both Hardwire and Cold Spring Granite were very responsive in not only providing the end product, but also in helping Teng structure special provisions for the water treatment plant that ensured the client ultimately received the level of protection they desired," noted Hillman.

Using Hardwire ArmorStone ensured that the citizens of Chicago would be able to have a secure water supply, even if that security is not visible.

SOURCE: Cold Spring Granite Company