FSP’s engineers worked closely with FLUOR and Imperial Oil to develop an innovative flat-plate fish screen system for a surface water intake on the Athabasca River to support Oil Sands Mining Operations. The water intake was designed to meet the regulatory requirements of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) fish screening requirements, which are very similar.

The fish screen incorporated a state-of-the-art backwash cleaning system, stainless steel wedge wire screens, PLC based controls and flow baffling. The system was designed with six (4.9 m long x 2.6 m high) bays that each had separate screen panels, cleaning manifolds, and flow baffles. Each of the screen panels and baffles was designed to be removable and have weighted wedges to automatically seat the panels when lowered into place. As part of the design process, HDR also assisted in numerical and physical modeling of the intake to comply with DFO regulations. Project was finished on time and on budget