The Eastern Municipal Water District board approved a contract with Pacific Hydrotech Corporation for three San Jacinto Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility rehabilitation projects.
The board’s 5-0 vote Wednesday, March 1, approved a $25,505,826 construction contract with Pacific Hydrotech, which is headquartered in Perris. Support tasks resulted in the board action also approving a $1,491,625 contract with MWH Constructors, Inc., a contract for $889,091 with Carollo Engineers, a $247,070 contract with Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, a contract for $176,560 with Converse Consultants, and a $135,200 contract with HDR Engineering, Inc. The board action authorized additional appropriations of $33,272,898, which brings the estimated cost of the project to $35,284,428.
EMWD staff combined three separate design packages into a single contract to obtain economies of scale and to facilitate project management and efficient plant operation. The construction work will consist of the San Jacinto Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility Plant 1 rehabilitation, the San Jacinto Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility centrate equalization and the San Jacinto Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility Digester No. 2 rehabilitation.
Plant 1 was constructed in the mid-1960s and was taken off-line in 2013 following the completion of San Jacinto Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility Plant 2 Expansion Project. Eastern’s Groundwater Reliability Plus Program to improve the quality and yield of water from the San Jacinto groundwater basin includes the Purified Water Replenishment Project which will include recharge ponds, an advanced recycled water treatment facility, a blending station and conveyance infrastructure. The Purified Water Replenishment Project along with growth in the area will require Plant 1 to be returned to active service. The rehabilitation of Plant 1 will include rehabilitation of the aeration basins which are currently off-line, decommissioning of the primary and secondary clarifiers, construction of a new pump station to convey flows to Plant 2, a flow meter structure, an aeration basin splitter box, a return activated sludge flow meter area and new buried pipelines to convey the process flows.
The San Jacinto Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility dewaters digested biosolids during limited daytime hours. Centrate is currently returned to the secondary process without equalization or control, which impacts and impairs nutrient treatment and removal. Equalization and control of centrate return will improve the treatment plant’s operational flexibility and allow for better control of disinfection chemistry. The centrate equalization work will include construction of a new centrate transfer pump station, repurposing the existing sludge transfer building as the new centrate return pump station, converting the existing Digester No. 2 to the new centrate equalization tank, constructing a new chemical feed system and new buried pipelines to convey process flows to the facilities and structures.
A condition assessment of Digester No. 2 indicated the need for significant structural rehabilitation to repurpose the digester into a centrate equalization tank. The work will include structural rehabilitation of loose material, guardrail modifications and coating of the exterior and of piping, equipment and other items.
The construction contract was advertised for bid Dec. 12. The engineer’s estimate for the construction contract was $22,018,227 although increased labor and materials costs caused all three bids to exceed that amount significantly. The Pacific Hydrotech bid of $25,505,826 was the lowest. GSE Construction Company Inc. of Livermore submitted a bid of $27,396,300. Garney Pacific Inc., which is based in Murrieta, had the other bid which was $32,533,926. Pacific Hydrotech has previously performed work for Eastern which has met EMWD standards.
MWH Constructors, whose office is in Corona, will provide construction management services. Carollo, Kennedy/Jenks and HDR will provide support services during construction. Carollo, which is headquartered in San Diego, performed the final design for the Plant 1 rehabilitation. Kennedy/Jenks, which is based in San Francisco and has offices in San Diego and Murrieta, provided the engineering design for the centrate equalization project. HDR is based in San Diego and provided the Digester No. 2 rehabilitation design. Converse Consultants, whose office is in Redlands, will provide geotechnical services and concrete inspection and testing services. EMWD general manager Joe Mouawad was given the authority to award contracts for suppliers administratively.
The contract with Pacific Hydrotech Corporation stipulates a duration is 720 calendar days from the notice to proceed. Substantial completion of the project is expected by March 2025.
Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia.com.
