“I don’t like to sit here and tell you there was a cost overrun, but that’s what I have to do,” Brad Hammond, consulting engineer of McGoodwin, Williams and Yates (MWY) told commissioners at the Carroll-Boone Water District board meeting Jan. 19. He was recounting the unexpected complications crews encountered trying to bore a tunnel to insert a 42-in. pipe under the Kings River as part of the parallel transmission line project.
The original total project cost was estimated to be $14.2 million, but lost time and labor plus other considerations ran the estimated total to $15.15 million, a 6.7 percent overrun.
Hammond said complications arose from inconsistent underground conditions. After a few attempts to bore a tunnel met with complications, MWY and environmental agencies they consulted agreed the only feasible alternative was an open cut to lay the pipe and its encasement nine to ten feet below the surface of the river.
Chris Hall, also an engineer with MWY, said the pipe is held in place by 24 concrete anchors, and there are valves on each side of the river so that water can be diverted from one pipe to the other in case either pipe needs repairs. He and Hammond showed slides of the riprap embankment holding the riverbank in place where the crew had positioned welded steel pipe out of sight and under the river. Hammond said representatives of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality made one visit to the site and were satisfied enough to state they saw no reason to return for another inspection.
Hammond advised the extra cost could be covered by CBWD reserves.
Better news
Hall and Hammond were more optimistic about the project to re-stabilize 780 ft. of Keels Creek stream bank close to the transmission line. Heavy rain on Dec. 28, 2015 washed away sections as wide as 60 feet, perilously close to the water supply headed toward Berryville, Green Forest and Harrison.
Hall had told the board last year that the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved the project but offered no funding. He continued to search for support and has since obtained a matching grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Services. The total project cost is projected to be $620,000, and NRCS will pay 75 percent or $465,000. The cost to CBWD will be $155,000.
Hall said the actual construction time would be only “maybe” three weeks, but the project will need to be bid, which will take some time. He said if the board authorized MWY to proceed with the project of obtaining bids and if it were willing to convene a special meeting to approve a bid before the next meeting, Hall might even be able to complete the project before the April board meeting.
Commissioner Gene Bland remarked, “I’ll meet Sunday night at midnight for $465,000.” Chair Jim Yates said he would be there with him. The board unanimously approved authorizing MWY to move the project forward as fast as possible and agreed to have a phone conference if necessary to consider bids.
Refunds on the way
Office Manager Cathy Klein announced that as a result of the recent audit, CBWD would be able to refund $213,500 to customer cities. The amount of individual rebates is based on the percentage of water used. Klein said CBWD would refund Eureka Springs $26,013; Berryville, $38,179, Green Forest, $60,378, and Harrison, $88,480.
Financial planning
Hammond suggested the board should build up its reserve funds because the cost of maintaining the facility is accelerating. He said he has worked with staff at the treatment plant to identify aging components – intake pumps, for example– and he advised the board to consider a plan for spending as much as $200,000 – 300,000 annually over ten years.
He said the Army Corps of Engineers could increase the water allocation fee. Plant manager Barry Connell had mentioned automating certain operations at the plant at some point, and this would come with a cost. Even with careful financial management to account for these expenses, Hammond expected the board would need to increase water rates at some point. Bowers pointed out planning for the future is a board function, and Yates said the board would monitor rates annually.
Beaver Watershed Alliance
John Pennington, president of the Beaver Watershed Alliance, told the board development near Beaver Lake presents a challenge in his efforts to preserve and protect the water quality of Beaver Lake. On the north side of the lake there is less impairment so there is less funding to protect it. He works with landowners and all entities near all sides of the lake in an effort to reduce erosion and mitigate increases in phosphorus levels.
Its literature states, “BWA provides strategic, valued and meaningful programing to provide watershed landowners and environmental stewards with the resources they need to help protect the water quality of Beaver Lake and its tributaries.”
The board again voted to contribute $5000 to the efforts of the Alliance.
The next meeting will be Thursday, April 20, at 10 a.m., at the Freeman-Raney Water Treatment Plant.