By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
As contractors and city staffers begin digging into the extensive revamp of Whitewater’s 34-year-old wastewater treatment facility, new, unexpected twists and turns are cropping up, increasing the cost of the project.
Assistant City Manager Chris McDonell came before the Common Council with a second so-called change order to the project. This one adds $14,373 to the funding pot to address a series of specific, technical items within the facility.
“As steady work continues on the biological upgrade at the utility, some items have come up that needed to be addressed in a timely fashion,” McDonell said.
One of those items is linked to soil conditions at the site. While testing was conducted before any work began, McDonell said, “We did run into some unusually wet conditions in the footprint of this structure.”
As new construction occurs at the wastewater treatment facility, McDonell said contracted experts are recommending use of several items, including filter fabric, perimeter insulation and a vapor barrier, to address the soil conditions.
“These items will act to stabilize the concrete slab and prevent damage due to frost and high moisture levels in the adjacent soils,” McDonell said.
As work has progressed at the site, McDonell said another issue also arose, which resulted in a separate change order in the amount of $228,762. Contractors have exposed an electrical duct bank that feeds all of the primary buildings at the facility.
The exposure at this point is a necessity, McDonell said, to handle the logistics of the project. For the next 18 months — the duration of the project — all electrical wiring at the site will have to be rerouted to maintain safety.
While the latest change order represents a modest increase to the project, expected to cost in the ballpark of $20.7 million, the city has built in safeguards to address this and other surprises that might arise as work continues.
The budget for revamping the wastewater treatment plant included a contingency fund. Subtracting the two change orders, McDonell said that fund still carries a balance of more than $1.57 million, should any other unexpected issues arise along the way.
The future of the wastewater treatment plant has been an oft-discussed topic between the Common Council and city staffers.
Throughout 2015, officials embarked on a lengthy process that entailed study, debate and analysis.
At the end of the year, council members did back a plan to allocate the $20.7 million funding package, though a number of finite details have continued to permeate in the first half of this year.
The wastewater treatment facility in its current iteration is considered beyond its useful life, Tim Reel, superintendent of the city’s wastewater division, said.
The current facility was built in 1982, and it had a 20-year life expectancy.
