Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrades Go Out For Bids

By Gordon HopkinsThe Fairbury City Council voted to put proposed upgrades and renovations to the city's wastewater treatment plant out for bids at a meeting on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.Last year, the city approved plans to renovate the wastewater treatment plant. In March of 2021, the city council voted to file an application for funding with the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) to pay for improvements to the plant. The estimated cost at that time was approximately $3.5 million. However, Fairbury City Administrator Robert Messbarger advised FJN, “The current estimated cost for the project is approximately $4 million.”Craig T. Reinsch, Senior Engineer for Olsson and Associates, engineering firm used by the city, was at the meeting to provide an update, “We have worked through the process and the design at the request of the city. We have followed the original schedule. We submitted the plans and specifications to regulatory agencies right before Christmas, before the end of the year. They have been approved. We've responded to some review comments from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. They were fairly minor. We are still waiting for State Fire Marshal comments but we understand there's a backlog there.” FundingReinsch said, “We did submit the project for funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. And we, the city, was awarded loan forgiveness of a cap of $525,000 of the $3.5 million dollar total project.”The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021. Reinsch indicated there was a possibility of funding from that avenue, “We also have the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that we're still waiting on those program requirements. And so we're kind of in a perfect storm of what is funding going to do, what are bids going to come in. And so as that information becomes finalized, then we'll bring some recommendations to the council.” Cost IncreasesThe last major upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant occurred in 1998. A water treatment system evaluation was completed in March of 2018 and several recommendations were made, including improvements to the headworks, buildings, piping, valves, a new clarifier ring and new grit processing.Reinsch explained some of the reasons for the increased costs for the project, “As we went through design and worked with city staff, obviously the wastewater plant continues to need some attention. It was decided with city staff to add several items to the project, which included a new, larger generator and to up-size the electrical service that was associated with that.”“This is the phase one,” continued Reinsch. “Phase two is the future regulatory requirements. Phase two included UV system upgrades the ultraviolet disinfection system. City staff recommended we include that at the current time. We also added some controls and heating, ventilating and air conditioning, air flow requirements.”Another problem is inflation and ongoing supply chain issues that have impacted all industries across the country.“And we've had some equipment price increases as we continue to add those things,” said Reinsch. “We know that costs are extremely volatile right now.”In addition, the city will need to upgrade the software that runs the treatment plant's computer system to operate and control all necessary functions. The plant's software currently utilizes Windows 7. Windows 7 is an outdated software that is no longer supported and no longer receives security upgrades.The city works with Hydro Optimization and Automation (HOA) regarding all technical needs with the plant. HOA provided the city with a quote of $24,212.00 to upgrade the computer software. However, HOA advised the city that a more expensive program will now be required, costing $29,623.50.The cost of the software upgrade is a separate expense from the other renovations and was not included in the original or updated cost estimates. BidsThe next step is to advertise for bids for the project as Reinsch said, “So the proposed bidding time frame, we are finding that on some of these larger projects, contractors are asking for more time to put together bids, making sure that they are able to work with subs (subcontractors) on some of our recent bid solicitations. General contractors are sometimes finding in certain trades that it's harder to get responses. And so we worked with the city. We're recommending a bid time frame of five to six weeks. So we're looking at starting advertisement next week. And then we will publish it pretty much throughout March, with a bid opening on Tuesday, March 29.”

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