Work on a new incline car track and mobile transport unit at Kentucky American Water’s largest water treatment plant has concluded. The $3.4 million project at the utility’s Kentucky River Station I water treatment plant in Fayette County involved replacing an incline car and track first constructed in 1958. The unique feature transports plant employees up and down a 400-foot cliff that houses the treatment plant at the top and the pumps and intake facility at the bottom where the river is located. Without the safety that the track and car provide, employees would need to navigate, with tools and other materials, approximately 500 steps along the cliff potentially multiple times a day.
New versions of the track and car enhance safety, efficiency and reliability for employees at the water treatment facility, which has a treatment capacity of 45 million gallons of water per day.
The Kentucky River Station 1 is the largest of Kentucky American Water’s three water treatment facilities. The others are the Richmond Road Station, also in Fayette County, and Kentucky River Station II at Hardin’s Landing located in Owen County.