Philadelphia Water Department, Lardner’s Point Pumping Station

Project Overview

Lardner’s Point Pumping Station (LPPS) is a critical facility in Philadelphia’s drinking water system that has been operating continuously since the early 1900s providing the City of Philadelphia with safe drinking water. Originally the main pumping station for the entire city, LPPS is currently one of Philadelphia’s five main pumping stations. LPPS is the largest finished water pumping station in the City of Philadelphia, conveying over 30% of the water consumed by the city on an average day. PWD has undertaken a project to construct a new pumping station including new site piping on the existing Lardner’s Point site to replace the aging LPPS that has far exceeded its useful lifespan.

Since the 1960s, only minor renovations have occurred, and Lardner’s Point Pumping Station has therefore operated largely untouched. The existing pumping station sits on the eastern portion of the site adjacent to Lardner’s Point Park and is the last remaining original structure on the site of a previous complex of four main buildings. This project intends to restore the site by reorganizing and simplifying it to provide for two distinct functions, pumping and sewer maintenance. The proposed four quadrant facility plan regenerates the site by honoring its past and its historical significance in the development of Philadelphia’s drinking water system while creating a new identity and sense of place. The conceptual site solution provides a long-term comprehensive vision for the site while accommodating all site programming elements including the new state-of-the-art pumping station, the repurposed existing pumping station for PWD conference/training, and the repaired sewer maintenance yard including new sewer maintenance facilities.

Envision is responsible for providing Basis of Design Report (BODR) conceptual cost estimating services for Lardner’s Point Pumping Station project.