Detroit Water Board Approves Updated Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

At its regular June 27, 2012 meeting, the City of Detroit, Board of Water Commissioners approved a $1.49 billion Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for 2013-2017. This is a 15% increase in planned spending over the $1.3 billion approved by the Water Board last year.

Included in the 2013-2017 CIP is $789.4 million for new construction and improvements to DWSD's water and wastewater facilities; $700.8 million is for projects that are active or under procurement.

Of the new construction funding, $280.5 million is designated for water projects (down from $422.5 million last year), and $508.9 million is designated for wastewater projects (up from $317.9 million last year).

Additional Resources:

• Water Supply System CIP - FY 2013-2017
• Sewage Disposal System CIP - FY 2013-2017
• Wastewater Master Plan - Volume 4: Capital Improvement Program

For more about DWSD Update, click here.

DWSD Belt Filter Press Replacement Project (PC-787), Bidding October 20th

Earlier today, DWSD issued an Invitation for Bids for Contract PC-787, Replacement of Belt Filter Presses for Complex I and Upper Level Complex II.

This is a 5 year contract, which will involve replacing 22 belt filter presses at the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), including related belt conveyors, new screw conveyors, polymer feed systems, and related electrical and instrumentation controls.

DWSD has projected the cost of this project in its latest CIP at $37 million.

Update (10/11): DWSD has reportedly issued another Bulletin, although not yet posted, which puts the bid opening date back to October 20th.
 
Update (9/29): Per Bulletin 1, the Bid Date for this project has been moved up a week to October 13, 2011 from October 20th. 

Photo Credit: http://www.beltfilterpress.com/

Report: DWSD Should Retire One or More Water Treatment Plants

A recent report by CH2M Hill, a national engineering firm, questions whether the City of Detroit (DWSD) should continue to operate all 5 of its existing water treatment plants (WTP) in light of major population losses and large projected capital improvement costs.

In a June 28, 2011 report, CH2M Hill begins by noting that DWSD currently operates 5 water treatment plants, which have a combined capacity of 1,640 million gallons per day (MGD).

Lake Huron . . . . . . .  400 MGD
Northeast  . . . . . . . . . 300 MGD
Water Works Park . . . 240 MGD
Springwells . . . . . . . . 540 MGD
Southwest . . . . . . . . . 160 MGD

Over the past 5 years, the Report notes, the maximum daily demand across the DWSD system has dropped from 1,050 MGD to 800 MGD.  This change in circumstances, according to CH2M Hill, raises 2 important questions:

1. Is there a different way to operate the system by reducing the number of treatment plants and thereby reducing the [capital investment] CIP requirements?
2. Are all of the transmission mains recommended in [DWSD's 50 Year] Master Plan still needed within the time frame suggested?

The CH2M Report then lays out 3 scenarios under which DWSD would retire the Southwest WTP, the Northeast WTP, or both.

CH2M Hill makes the following preliminary recommendations:

• Northeast WTP -- "retirement of the Northeast plant is the most desireable as it is the plant with the largest capital allowance to rehabilitate the plant to an acceptable level of operation."

• Southwest WTP -- "work on rehabilitation of the treatment trains at the Southwest plant should be put on hold until a detailed analysis of the system hydraulics can be completed." 

• Water Works Park WTP -- "The CIP contains an amount of $24.5M for re-working the discharge piping . . . this expenditure should be put on hold until better decisions can be made with respect to the future needs of this plant."

• Springwells WTP -- "This water treatment plant is of strategic importance to the long term operation of the DWSD transmission system. Continuing with the work related to the filter rehabilitation and pumping is important and should continue. This includes [over $442 million worth of CIP projects]."

• Transmission Mains (NOTS and Flint Loop) -- "Base on current planning projections, all of this work [$584M] should be removed from the CIP."

The CH2M Hill Report outlines a number of other recommendations (here).

Comment: The CH2M Hill Report appears to have been published during the time period in which DWSD was evaluating the CIP, between early May and late July. It is unclear, however, whether the report was part of the decision making process. It was distributed only yesterday to attendees of a TAC Meeting.  

For more about DWSD Update, click here.

Detroit Water Board Approves 5 Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

At its July 27, 2011 meeting, the Board of Water Commissioners approved a $1.3 billion Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for 2012-2016. 

Of this amount, $740.4 million is earmarked for new construction and improvements to DWSD's water and wastewater facilities; $591 million is for projects that are already under construction.

Of the new construction funding, $422.5 million is designated for water projects, and $317.9 million is designated for wastewater projects. 

In early May, Deputy Director Darryl Latimer announced that DWSD would postpone revisions to the 2011-2015 CIP pending a detailed review of projects.  

After completing this review, a Draft CIP was submitted to the Board of Water Commissioners for approval at its July meeting.

During the July 27th meeting, a number of Commissioners expressed concern about the amount and timing of information provided to suburban (wholesale) customers of the Department.

• Commissioner Bryan Williams in particular expressed his concern that the CIP doesn't reflect current needs and that the whole process for approving capital projects should be changed radically. He recommended (i) starting the process earlier; (ii) providing a formal schedule for customer input; and (iii) circulating an original and red lined version of the CIP to show changes.
• Commissioner James Fausone echoed those concerns, that the wholesale customer base needed more time to review DWSD's proposed spending plans.
• Commissioner Fred Barnes reported hearing from suburban customers who hadn't seen the revised CIP and weren't involved in the process.

Deputy Director Daryl Latimer and Assistant Director James George indicated that suburban communities had been briefed about DWSD's capital spending plans through the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), and that the CIP has generally not been subject to Board approval. 

Acting Director Chris Brown requested that the Board approve the revised CIP with the condition that the Assistant Director George answer the Commissioner's remaining questions. 

The Board approved the 2012-2016 CIP on a 6-1 vote. Commissioner Williams was the lone dissent.

Comment: While we haven't had time to thoroughly compare the updated CIP with last year's version, it appears that the Springwell's Water Treatment Plant (SP-563) project has survived and will be coming out for bids shortly.  The most recent list of proposed construction contracts indicates a September, 2011 bid advertisement date.

Among the projects that appear to have lost out, both the Flint Loop and North Oakland Transmission System (NOTS) water main project appear to have been cut. There is no money allocated to the oversight contracts (CM-2017 and CM-2016), which were previously awarded. 

Additional Resources:

• Water Supply System CIP - FY 2012-2016
• Sewage Disposal System CIP - FY 2012-2016
• Wastewater Master Plan - Volume 4: Capital Improvement Program

For more about DWSD Update, click here.

DWSD Suspends Upcoming Projects, New Strategic Plan in the Works

On May 3, 2011, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department announced that it would revisit the spending outlined in its 2011-2015 Capital Improvement Program (CIP), for both water and wastewater construction projects.  The CIPs are updated annually; the last update was in July, 2010.

Deputy Director Darryl Latimer notes that DWSD "will be engaging in a detailed review of every project in the CIPS, striving to produce revised plans to be published by July 1 [2011]." 

Therefore, effective immediately, ALL projects that have not yet been initiated are to be halted until further notice. Work can only proceed with specific and formal authorization from the office of the Assistant Director of Financial Services prior to the final authorization from the Deputy Director. This includes task authorization of as needed services, amendments and new contracts.

Commentary: It is unclear whether Mr. Latimer's reference to "projects that have not yet been initiated" means some or all of the projects listed on DWSD's April, 2001 "Proposed Quarterly Construction and Consultant Contracts." If so, this would mean further delays in bidding and construction of the Springwells Water Treatment Plant 1958 Filter Rehabilitation Project (SP-563).  The Springwells WTP project is listed as a "New Project" in the July, 2010 Water Supply System CIP, with an estimated budget of $120 million.  This highly-anticipated project was to have come out for bids in late-2010, and then early-2011. Stay tuned as things develop.  

DWSD Strategic Planning Initiative - May 3, 2011