Sometimes a wheezing economy has an upside.
Officials with the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System found themselves on the brighter side of life after opening bids Thursday for a water treatment plant. The low bid came in $35 million under the project’s initial estimate of $96 million.
Officials were understandably elated. In 2007, the system sought bids on a larger version of the plant, and bids were $50 million over budget. The system’s directors ultimately rejected the bids and started over.
“Talk about feast or famine,” Executive Director Troy Larson said.
For this go-round, more companies bid on the project, and construction materials are cheaper than in 2007, when many materials were near all-time highs.
“We essentially reversed our fortune in terms of timing,” Larson said.
Ten communities, including Sioux Falls, already are scheduled to begin receiving water from the system in 2012. The low bids for the treatment plant enables the system to put more money into laying pipe and accelerating the schedule for the other communities.
One of those communities is Worthington, Minn. Scott Hain, the general manager for utilities and the city’s representative on the Lewis & Clark board of directors, said it could mean that Worthington will see water by 2016. But the schedule for completing the project still is heavily dependent on Congress.
“Everything is going to hinge on what we get on an annual basis in federal appropriations,” Hain said.
Phase one of the treatment plant already is in progress. It consists of an underground reservoir, an electrical building and pumps. The bids opened Thursday were for the second and biggest phase - a plant capable of treating 34 million gallons of water a day. A third phase - expanding the plant to 45 million gallons a day - won’t start until after all the 20 members are on line. Foley Co. in Kansas City, Mo., submitted the low bid at $61.4 million. The highest of seven bids came in at $74.5 million, still well below estimates.
Foley already is doing work on the first phase. The company would begin work on phase two by mid-summer, company Vice President Tom Benassi said. The project would take about 39 months and create jobs for 80 to 100 tradesmen.