Camp Bethel Water System
Fincastle, Virginia

Project Owner: Camp Bethel (Church of the Brethren – Virlina District)
http://www.campbethelvirginia.org/                             

Services Provided: Design of water system expansion and upgrade

Camp Bethel, “since 1927, the Outdoor Ministry of the Virlina District Church of the Brethren”, is a year-round outdoor recreational and camping facility located in Botetourt County, Virginia. In conjunction with plans to add to the over-all amenities of the Camp, ACS DESIGN provided the professional services required to develop engineering plans for the expansion and upgrade of their current water system. Camp officials determined a need for this action from several mitigating factors: the desire for a water system that can be treated if it becomes necessary; there was no current storage capacity; a power outage of more than a few hours would essentially mandate a shut down of the entire camp; there were concerns about drought conditions; the need for a sustainable supply of water; and the desire for a system designed to handle the short-term needs of the camp while being expandable for future growth of both the facility and the size of the groups utilizing the camp.

Camp Bethel is an existing camp providing facilities in Botetourt County, Virginia with a fairly large amount of acreage and infrastructure (cabins, dining facilities, conference center, etc.) to serve the campers needs. One of these installations was a piece-meal water system cobbled together and expanded as the need has grown over the past 80+ years. In 2008 the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to the Camp indicating that their water system was not compliant with current regulations. The water system was also affected by Coliform bacteria results in sample testing. The Camp recognized a need to upgrade their system and contacted ACS to provide planning and engineering for a major upgrade. The Camp is served by a single well rated at 26 GPM. ACS DESIGN reviewed the current status of the system and recognized that there were some storage issues that needed to be addressed. In planning and discussions with the Camp, ACS DESIGN recommended a course of action that included the installation of new water treatment building that would house a 10,000 gallon water storage tank, a 2500 gal hydro-pneumatic pressure tank, a duplex water booster pump station, and a water treatment system consisting of a chlorine disinfection system. The well head was upgraded to bring it into compliance with current Class IIB well standards. Water was pumped directly from the well to the water treatment building where water was treated and stored in a tank and distributed through the rest of the system.

After the water system was brought on line, it was recognized that the water distribution system was plagued by a series of leaks. ACS worked with the contractor to identify and fix the leaks which resulted in a tremendous savings of water on the order of 10,000 gallons per day. The water treatment building is approximately 30’x24’ with a 14’ eave ceiling, and a movable wall such that if the primary storage tank were to fail for any reason, the wall can be removed for the tank to be repaired or replaced as needed

Overall cost for the project was approximately $175,000 for engineering and construction with completion in July 2009.