PUBLIC DRINKING WATER TREATMENT PLANTS
UPDATE
July 15, 2011
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Rialto Water Privatization Plan Fails
$31 Million for Highland Park Water Project
McHenry Plans Water Plant Improvements
Gloucester Plans $10 Million Water Improvement Project
Paulsboro Receives Federal Grants and Loans for Water Treatment Project
Saranac Lake to Re-evaluate Water Project
Water Facility Could Make Broken Arrow Self-Sufficient, Regional Water Supplier
Elmore City Plans Water Improvement Project
$5.3 Million for Gonzales Water Plant Repair
Corner Brook Plans New Water Plant
Calgon Carbon Awarded Two Contracts
Florida Water Treatment Plant Expansion to include Koch RO Membrane Element
CALIFORNIA
Rialto Water Privatization Plan Fails
A plan to contract out Rialto's water department to a private company has died, as did a possible quick solution to long overdue upgrades and renovations at the city's water and wastewater treatment facility.
After hearing from dozens of residents, the City Council voted on a 30-year contract, which would have put New Jersey-based American Water Works Co. Inc. in charge of the city's water department. The tie vote meant that the contract will not proceed to the next step, a vote by property owners under Proposition 218. Under the law, property owners could block the outsourcing plan by a simple majority.
As part of the proposal, American Water would have paid the city $30million, financed old debt mostly connected to the city's wastewater treatment plant and provided funding for an estimated $42 million in new debt needed to upgrade and repair the city's water works.
But combined water and wastewater rates would have soared 86 percent in two years.
And that rapid rate of increase upset many Rialto residents, some of whom face severe financial hardships because of the poor economy.
By not signing a contract with American Water, Rialto owes American Water about $1.7 million for its study and recommendations on needed capital improvements to the water system.
One council member said that the situation in Rialto "is not the end of the world. Rialto is in better shape than many cities around us. We need to come up with long-term and short-term plans (for the water system)."
ILLINOIS
$31 Million for Highland Park Water Project
At a recent meeting a Highland Park City Councilman has asked for a thorough review of the city’s planned $31 million upgrade of its 82-year old water treatment plant.
Though the other councilmen discussed the request, the Council later voted to approve three contracts affiliated with the project and avoid any potential delays to work scheduled to begin in September.
A bond issue to pay for the project is planned this summer.
At its June 13 Committee of the Whole meeting, Public Works Director Mary Anderson gave the city’s legislative body an update of the project.
The current plant is pumping beyond capacity during peak times.
The city pumps water for its citizens and also sells it to Deerfield and other neighboring municipalities.
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McHenry Plans Water Plant Improvements
The city of McHenry will spend up to $175,000 for design work for a remodeling planned at Water Treatment Plant 2.
The design will include a new filter system, chemical feed systems, pumps, a standby generator, and pump replacements for two city wells.
H.R. Green, an engineering and technical consulting firm will put together the designs and coordinate the bid process.
MASSACHUSETTS
Gloucester Plans $10 Million Water Improvement Project
Gloucester's next set of water system upgrades will begin next year, following the City Council's approval of a $4.5 million loan from the state's Department of Environmental Protection.
The loan covers the first part of an over $10 million project that will repair water storage tanks, pumps, valves, and replace some of the city's oldest water mains.
The first portion of the new phase of work will include renovating the Plum Cove, Blackburn and Bond Hill storage tanks, placing a valve for water circulation in the Lanesville water line, replacing pipes beneath the "old city" between Western and Commonwealth avenues, and a revision of the city's public water service master-plan.
Gloucester's new round of water system improvements follow a series of emergency upgrades started in 2009. The emergency upgrades repaired, and re-fitted Gloucester's Babson Reservoir treatment plant after a malfunction caused the city's three-week 2009 boil-water order.
The first series of updates fixed Babson's water intake systems, and set chloramines into water treatment process in 2010, said Larry Durkin, the city's environmental engineer. The third phase upgrades will improve parts of the water system so the city can maintain it, rather than replace it.
Phase III is less about the plant, and more about the plumbing, officials said, with the Blackburn, Plum Cove and Bond Hill water storage tanks first on the list for a refit. The whole of phase three work will require outside contracting in addition to Public Works staff. The tanks need painting. The Plum Cove tank has corroded and needs structural repairs, in addition to new paint. The paint will seal the tank and keep the water clean.
Phase III also adds a mixer to each of the tanks. The mixers are essentially solar powered blenders, and will alert Gloucester's Department of Public Works if they stop working.
The Public Works Department will build a valve on the Lanesville line to keep water in the Plum Cove tank moving, and keep the water pressure up for Gloucester's northern residents.
Gloucester's Public Works Department will also repair the Fuller School pump station which, because of aged equipment, breaks down more than it should. The Fuller station sends water to Blackburn Industrial Park and Gloucester Crossing.
The city's final water system construction project involves replacing thousands of feet of cast iron water mains. The project will replace 20,000 feet of eight-inch piping below Commonwealth, and 13,400 linear feet of 20-inch water mains beneath Western Avenue.
More repairs are still in the future to bring the West Gloucester treatment plant up to speed with the Babson plant. Phase III will not complete the city's water improvements.
NEW JERSEY
Paulsboro Receives Federal Grants and Loans for Water Treatment Project
Paulsboro Council members approved two resolutions that allow the borough to fund a new water facility and new water tower through federal grants and loans.
According to a borough Administrator, the current water treatment plant is shot with two wells built in the early 1960s. He said the new facility is necessary to remove the heavy irons and other pollutants from the ground. The project must be complete by next February in order to keep a $1.8 million grant.
The Nassau Avenue water tower will be replaced as well and the project will go out to bid by this fall and should be completed by later next year.
NEW YORK
Saranac Lake to Re-evaluate Water Project
The Saranac Lake village Board of Trustees plans to re-evaluate the decision to use two wells as the future source of drinking water for the village, citing concerns about rising costs and complications associated with the multi-million dollar project.
"It's our biggest expenditure in village history, and it's spiraling out of control right now," Mayor Clyde Rabideau said at a recent village board meeting.
Rabideau asked village Manager John Sweeney to provide a detailed accounting of the project's "sunk cost" so far, which Sweeney estimated at roughly $2 million in infrastructure and engineering. Rabideau also asked Sweeney to outline the alternative cost of building a water treatment facility that would allow the village to continue using its existing water source, McKenzie Pond, an option that was ruled out by the previous village board.
Rabideau's request came two weeks after the board awarded a combined $8.8 million in construction contracts for the $11 million project. That work involves connecting two wells that have already been drilled behind the village wastewater treatment plant to the village's water system, the building of a new water storage tank and a host of water distribution system improvements.
But the contracts haven't been executed yet. They were awarded contingent on the village securing easements for the new water lines from a group of property owners. Sweeney said those negotiations have bogged down over the cost of the easements.
Rabideau said the board should convene a special meeting to discuss its options.
Village officials also said they were concerned about a recent email from the state Department of Environmental Conservation that said the agency would only let the village use 1.5 MGD from the wells, although the village's engineers estimate the wells can draw more than 3 MGD.
The village currently uses just under one MGD but wants to be able to draw additional water to handle future growth or take on more customers outside the village limits.
The village has been under a state Department of Health mandate to upgrade its water system since 2007. That's when the agency rescinded the village's exemption from having to filter water from McKenzie Pond because periodic testing found levels of haloacetic acids - a compound formed by the use of chlorine as a disinfectant - had exceeded state and federal standards by 1 microgram per liter.
Initially, the village considered building a water filtration plant near its existing water storage tank to treat the water from McKenzie Pond; however, village officials were concerned that standards for surface water sources like the pond could change again, making the filtration plant inadequate.
In the process, the village's engineering consultants drilled test wells into the land behind the wastewater treatment plant and discovered a huge aquifer that they said could be developed as a new water source.
After months of discussion and debate, the village board voted in October 2009 to develop two wells behind the sewer plant.
OKLAHOMA
Water Facility Could Make Broken Arrow Self-Sufficient, Regional Water Supplier
The city's application for a $75.3 million federal-state loan could finance the city's planned water treatment facility on the Verdigris River, according to city officials in utilities, engineering and finance.
The Broken Arrow Municipal Authority passed recently a resolution allowing the city to apply for a loan from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The board, along with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, provides low-interest loans to communities for public water supply infrastructure projects.
City officials currently are coordinating the application with the board and expect notification in August. If approved, the city could start bidding construction contracts for the project this fall.
Director of Utilities Paul Rhodes, engineer Tom Hedrix and finance controller Tom Cook Jr. said the city's former contract with the Oklahoma Ordinance Works Authority included a take-or-pay agreement, which cost the city as much as $670,000 a year for unused water. They also said the authority's water line has become unreliable and has failed several times during the past two years.
Officials said the plant not only could make the city more self-sufficient but also a regional water supplier like Tulsa. It's location could potentially pump water from the Grand Lake system.
Its projected completion date is the fall of 2013.
The $70 million facility would produce and pump about 20 MGD to the city's water storage tanks. The 10-man facility would cost about $1.3 million a year for labor, chemicals, energy and other associated costs - less than what the city pays to purchase water.
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Elmore City Plans Water Improvement Project
Up until around 2003, Elmore City was able to provide residents with a locally treated source of water until their aging plant was no longer able to meet current requirements set by the Department of Environmental Quality.
After shutting down the plant, the city had to stop gathering water from the nearby lake and rely on well water as well as purchasing it through the rural water development district, now overseen by Pauls Valley.
Around 70 percent of the water is bought from outside the area and the rest comes from well water, which does not require as much treatment. But the rising costs of having water piped in and conditions like the current drought have been more than enough motivation to move ahead with plans for bringing a plant online. The new plant, which would then save the city money over time, would need to handle up to about 2 MGD.
Ambitions to bring some kind of water treatment facility to the area goes back several years and thanks to a series of grants, it could be something online within the next couple of years. Part of the short time frame is possible because town officials are going ahead with the first phase of refurbishing the old plant, instead of building a new one.
According to Mehlburger Brawley, the engineering firm for the project, the overall cost is initially estimated at $496,780. This comes at a significant savings since a new plant capable of servicing the city’s needs would cost around $1 million.
Work includes rebuilding the pump system, completely replacing the control panel and refinishing the treatment tanks.
TEXAS
$5.3 Million for Gonzales Water Plant Repair
The city of Gonzales is looking at a $5.3 million bill to update its water treatment plant, and it may have to increase water and sewer rates to help generate funds to pay for the project.
An engineer with LNV of Austin told the Gonzales City Council that the water treatment plant, the city’s water well on Highway 97 and the stand pipes on the north part of town all need major repairs.
Interim City Manager Charles Windwehen said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) informed the city about seven years ago that the water treatment plant’s pressure filters were out of date and needed to be phased out. The plant has four sets of filters, which need to be replaced with gravity flow filters. Also, the new filters require significant modifications to the old plant.
The current plant uses older technology and the city needs to replace many key components.
Cost for just the filters is $1.4 million. The modifications required to replace the filters will bring the estimated cost to $5.3 million. This includes a 25 percent contingency for unanticipated changes during the process.
The water plant treats groundwater from the city’s well and surface water from the Guadalupe River.
The city’s water well also needs repairs. Currently, the well can’t be used because it has an excess of hydrogen sulfite gas in the water, the pH is high and the temperature as it comes out of the ground is at around 100 degrees.
LNV will begin a study on the well in about a week to determine what needs to be done to remove the gas from the water, lower the pH and determine what chemicals will need to be used to make the water ready for drinking. She said making these repairs to the well will allow the city to blend the water pumped from the well into their current distribution system.
This project is expected to cost $150,000.
The third part of the project involved the stand pipes that hold treated water so it is ready for use. They are located on the north side of town and help provide water pressure to those on the city’s water system via gravity.
By making improvements to the stand pipes, the water can circulate, which will help remove the sulfide gas, cool the water and keep it from going stale.
The cost to fix the stand pipes is $320,000 however, the stand pipes are not as critical an issue was the water well. The city needs to get the well fixed first, then replace the water plant filters and make the needed modifications before working on the stand pipes. The total cost for all three projects is $5.7 million.
An estimate to completely bring the water treatment plant up to date was $15-16 million.
CANADA
Corner Brook Plans New Water Plant
While the actual design-build method of Corner Brook’s water treatment plant has changed, preparation work may also lead to a physical change in the facility.
These measures are being taken to save money on the more than $43-millon project, that ballooned to more than $60 million when tenders were received last year.
Steve May, director of operational services, said the city has been working with the owners engineer, CBCL Limited, to do some further investigation, including looking at the preliminary figures used for the plant design.
One aspect is reducing the capacity of the plant, which depends on water consumption by its users. May said, although Corner Brook remains well over the national average of per household of water consumption, there has been a gradual trending downwards. He attributes that to changes at all levels, from industrial users to residential.
May said leaking from the city’s distribution system will also be a significant factor. He suspects some older areas of the city have significant leaking, which has to be fixed.
The next step after that is finalizing the request for qualifications, which is accepting documents from teams who are proposing to get involved to design and build the water treatment plant. May said the request should be issued sometime this month.
In the early fall, May said the city should have a short list of design builders — four teams are being targetted — and then a request for proposals would be issued, hopefully around mid-fall. The actual construction is hoped to begin by late spring or early summer 2012, with hope for the plant to become operational in the fall of 2014.
May said the city is cognizant of inflation in the construction industry, but the hope is the new design/build route will see a more cost-effective way of producing the plant.
BUSINESS NEWS
Calgon Carbon Awarded Two Contracts
Calgon Carbon Corporation has announced that it has been selected by the cities of Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, IN to supply Sentinel® Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection systems at drinking water production plants serving their communities. Terms of the contracts were not disclosed.
Indianapolis will install 12 Sentinel 12” Systems at its Fall Creek plant to increase protection against Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and other surface water pathogens. When installed in the winter of 2011, the Sentinel Systems will treat up to 44 MGD of drinking water.
Separately, Fort Wayne will install three Chevron 48” UV reactors at its Three Rivers water filtration plant as part of a retrofitting project. The new UV reactors, capable of treating up 72 MGD were selected because of their low capital and operating costs. Installation is scheduled for June 2012.
Both Sentinel Systems have undergone third-party validation in accordance with the U.S. EPA’s UV Disinfection Guidance Manual. Both systems feature UV intensity sensors to ensure accurate delivery of UV dose, an automatic quartz sleeve cleaning system and a fully automated control system.
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Florida Water Treatment Plant Expansion to include Koch RO Membrane Element
As part of a project to upgrade and expand the capacity of the municipal water treatment plant in Davie, FL, Koch Membrane Systems will provide its Fluid Systems® TFC® reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.
The KMS RO elements will be installed in four trains with a 2.0 MGD capacity each, running at 80 percent recovery. These RO trains, along with three cartridge filter vessels and one clean-in-place system, will be designed and fabricated by Aerex Industries, based in Fort Pierce, FL. The total plant capacity will be 8 MGD, serving a population of 90,000.
RO will be incorporated into the town of Davie water treatment plant to lower the Total Dissolved Solids in the well water that supplies the area's drinking water.
Delivery of the KMS membranes is expected to be in early 2013 with commissioning of the plant scheduled for June 2013.
Recent Chemical Bid Reports
You can track all the water chemical bids in the new database in the report at:
https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/TofC.htm
Here are the titles added since the last report.
Santa Monica, CA
https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1859
Amesbury, MA
https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1870
Clyde, OH
https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1864
Warrington, PA
https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1872
Ogden, UT
https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1854
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel: 847-784-0012; Fax: 847-784-0061
E-mail: editor@mcilvainecompany.com
Web site: www.mcilvainecompany.com
McIlvaine Company,
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel: 847-784-0012; Fax: 847-784-0061;
E-mail: editor@mcilvainecompany.com
Web site: www.mcilvainecompany.com