After months of planning and legal battles with opponents including the City of Smithville who tried to stop the project, the DeKalb Utility District will soon be starting construction on its own water treatment plant.
During its regular monthly meeting Thursday, the DUD board of commissioners awarded contracts to three companies who were the lowest bidders on three different portions of the project. The total cost comes to $12,958,390, more than $900,000 above projections. However, DUD Manager Jon Foutch told WJLE after the meeting that the project will move forward. “We are over what we projected. We have funds available for $12 million but we are fully prepared to make this treatment plant go forward. We have many options for (addressing) the overrun. We feel like we can make it happen,” he said.
W&O Construction Company, Inc. of Livingston got the bid to build the 2 million gallon a day water treatment plant. The company’s base bid amount for the project was $7,015,000, the lowest of the three bids submitted. DUD awarded the contract to W&O Construction in an adjusted amount of $6,993,000. The adjusted amount equals the Base Bid minus a deduct of $22,000 under the section for “pre-engineered structure”.
Judy Construction Company of Cynthiana, Kentucky will perform construction on the raw water intake. Judy Construction’s base bid was for $4,189,000, which was the lowest of the five bids received for this portion of the project. The DUD awarded the contract in the adjusted amount of $4,149,500 which equals the base bid minus deducts of $1,500 in a section for valves and hydrants; $8,000 for a section regarding Raw Water Screen and Accessories; and $30,000 in the section for Vertical Turbine Pumps.
Finally, Hawkins and Price, LLC of Wartrace, Tennessee got the bid for construction of 18 inch Raw and Finished Water Transmission Lines at the base bid amount of $1,815,890, which was the lowest of eight bids received. There were no deducts applied for this portion of the project.
All contracts were awarded by DUD subject to approval of the State Revolving Fund Loan, Rural Development/USDA, Appalachian Regional Council, and the availability of funds.
A ground breaking date has not yet been set but the contracts call for the plant to be completed within eighteen months of the start of construction. The intake is to be finished within fifteen months and the water lines are to be in place within a year.
The DeKalb Utility District has secured two Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loans totaling $5,250,000 to fund this project. The first loan is for $2,500,000 with a $2,000,000 loan and $500,000 in principle forgiveness that will not have to be repaid by the DeKalb Utility District. The second DWSRF loan is for $2,750,000. Additional funding includes a Rural Utilities Service loan for $5,000,000, a Rural Utilities Service grant for $1,250,000, and an Appalachian Regional Commission grant for $500,000″.
The project provides for the construction of a new raw water intake structure and raw water pump station on the Holmes Creek Embayment of Center Hill Reservoir (Caney Fork River); an 18-inch diameter raw water transmission line from the raw water pump station to the new 2.0 million gallon per day water treatment plant located along Holmes Creek Road; an 18-inch diameter finished water transmission line along Holmes Creek Road, Allen’s Ferry Road, and U.S. Highway 70; and new 8-inch diameter water distribution lines along Big Rock Road, Dry Creek Road, Game Ridge Road, Turner Road, Tittsworth Road, and Walker Lane. A finished water pumping station will be constructed to deliver water from the Snow’s Hill Water Tank to the Short Mountain Water Tank. The new water treatment plant will also include clarification, mixed media filtration and backwash systems, and a 250,000 gallon clear well.
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