ADELANTO – The City Council on Wednesday accepted the completion of its Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion project, while approving a resolution that found it necessary to award an emergency contract to finish the project.
City staff recommended the Council, which also acts as the Adelanto Public Utility Authority (APUA) Board, approve the Oct. 15 completion of the expansion project and direct staff to file a notice of completion with the County Recorder so to “close out the design and build portion of the contract,” according to a staff report from City Manager Jim Hart.
One of two 70-foot diameter secondary clarifiers as part of Adelanto’s Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades – Courtesy of PACE Water
“What made this an emergency was the Regional Water Boards requirement that we make immediate improvements to the plant or risk having a connection ban placed on the City,” Hart told the Civic Bee by email on Thursday. “What we had to immediately do is build a new settling pond (about $500,000), start diverting flow to VVWRA (about $800,00 per year) and begin the upgrade improvements ($7.5 Million Dollars).”
Hart said it took about 18 months to complete, and since the city was working under an emergency situation, it allowed the city to work directly with contractors.
The APUA entered into a design, build and operate contract with Costa Mesa-based PERC Water on Feb. 8, 2012, to expand the waste water treatment facility.
The approved resolution states that because the expansion was urgent, requiring “immediate needs to treat the current wastewater flows which creates an emergency condition for the public health and safety,” the situation warranted an emergency agreement with PERC that would forego the normal competitive bidding requirements.
The APUA was ordered by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to complete the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant and have it fully operational by January 2014 – to correct the facility’s “inability to treat current wastewater flows,” according to the resolution. The regional board acknowledged that the “emergency would not permit a delay resulting from a competitive solicitation for bids.”
According to online information provided by PACE Water, pacewater.com/services, which is the engineer-of-record for PERC Water’s Design-Build-Operate team, PACE provided engineering design and consulting services to construct new infrastructure and rehabilitate existing systems for Adelanto’s Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades.
The PACE website states that Adelanto’s Wastewater Treatment Plant “receives an average flow of 1.8 Million Gallons per Day (MGD), of which only 0.5 MGD” could be treated before the completion of the plant’s expansion.
Located at 19101 Jonathan Street in Adelanto, the expansion of the Wastewater Treatment Plant includes new infrastructure, such as new screening and washing systems in the headworks, all new aeration and blower equipment in the existing secondary basins, two new 70′ diameter circular clarifiers, an RAS/ WAS pump station, and new internal recycle pumping on the biological process, according to the PACE website.
For more information, access the Adelanto City Council agenda for Wednesday, Nov. 13 at adelanto.ca.us/downloads.
