Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (WDCWA) and CH2M Hill employees gathered at the recent groundbreaking for a new regional water treatment plant to replace deteriorating groundwater supplies with more-reliable surface water from the Sacramento River.
WDCWA awarded the $140 million design-build-operate (DBO) contract in October 2013. Expected to open in fall 2016, the project will divert approximately 45,000 acre-feet of water per year from the river to provide customers in the cities of Woodland and Davis, and possibly the University of California in Davis, with 30 mgd. Future expansion capability is 34 mgd.
The contract includes building a jointly-owned and operated water intake on the river; raw water pipelines connecting the intake to the new treatment plant; separate pipelines delivering treated water to Woodland and Davis; and improvements to the cities’ supply systems, including distribution pipelines, storage tanks, and pump stations.
“The project is off to an excellent start," says WDCWA General Manager Dennis Diemer. "We look forward to celebrating the successful delivery of project water in 2016.”
Meanwhile, the City of Wilsonville just celebrated the opening of Oregon's first DBO project, a $42 million wastewater treatment upgrade that was completed ahead of schedule and under budget and earned 2013 EnvironmentalProject of the Year from the Oregon Chapter of the American Public Works Association.
Built in the 1970s, the 2.5 mgd plant now handles 4 mgd (with expansion up to 7 mdg). In addition to a new odor-control system, the facility has two new structures -- a dewatering and drying building and head works building -- to produce Class A biosolids for land application and fertilizer.
CH2M Hill took over operations in September 2011, during construction, and will continue to operate the plant for the next 20 years under the DBO contract.
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