Blog

How Collaboration in a CMAR Project Successfully Delivered a Treatment Plant Expansion at UTRWD’s Riverbend Water Reclamation Plant

Posted on July 28, 2018 by Sam Barraco, PE, Project Manager, Carollo

Upper Trinity Regional Water District’s (UTRWD) Riverbend Water Reclamation Plant (WRP), located in north central Texas near the city of Aubrey, needed to increase its capacity from 2 million gallons per day (mgd) annual average daily flow to 4 mgd with a peak flow rate of 16 mgd. This expansion was required to keep up with the economic growth occurring to the north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. In order to increase capacity, a new influent pump station, new screening and grit removal headworks, a new sludge pump station building, modification of sequential batch reactor basins to conventional aeration basins with ballasted activated sludge, and new secondary clarifiers were required.

Topics: Carollo, CMAR, Wastewater Infrastructure/Treatment.

What’s Open-Book Pricing All About – How Does it Really Work?

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Leofwin Clark, WDBC President and Brown and Caldwell Vice President

(Excerpted from the Water and Wastewater Design-Build Handbook, 4th edition, and Education Program) Several of our industry’s best collaborative-delivery methods—particularly CMA R and progressive design-build—rely on an open-book process for developing cost and pricing during preconstruction. This process is used to achieve agreement on cost and then a price for the construction effort to proceed. In turn, the price is typically implemented either as a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) or a fixed-price contract provision.

Topics: Brown and Caldwell, Collaborative Delivery, Open-Book Pricing, Progressive Design-Build.

How An Operations-Focused Collaborative-Delivery Method Leads To A Successful Project

Posted on June 22, 2018 by John Gallegos and Tom Visosky, CDM Smith

The success of collaborative-delivery methods, especially progressive design-build, is due in large part to the immediate engagement of an owner’s operation and maintenance (O&M) teams— specifically during design development and preconstruction. While this approach may appear difficult to execute, it’s actually quite simple when completed systematically.

Topics: CDM Smith, Collaborative Delivery, O&M.

Allowances Versus Contingencies: What’s the Difference?

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Ken Slota, Construction Manager, PCL Construction

Allowances and contingencies are often confused with one another, but understanding their differences is crucial to successfully executing project contracts.

Topics: Allowances, Contingency, PCL.

How Treatability Testing and an Integrated Advanced Oxidation Treatment System Optimized Delivery Speed for a Water Treatment Plant Experiencing Harmful Algal Blooms

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Steve Green, Business Development Manager - Water Utilities – Americas, - Xylem Inc.

In June of 2013, utility managers at the Anderson Regional Joint Water System (ARJWS) in Anderson, South Carolina, began experiencing intermittent taste and odor impacts to their finished potable water. This led to customer complaints and public relations challenges for the utility. The problems were due to the increasing occurrence of algal blooms in their source water body, Lake Hartwell.

Topics: Collaborative Delivery, Water Infrastructure/Treatment, Xylem.

Flexibility is the Name of the Game in Collaborative Delivery

Posted on May 25, 2018 by David Kinchen, Associate VP and Director, Black & Veatch

One of the many overlooked benefits of collaborative delivery is the flexibility offered through the various approaches. In particular, utility and government agencies with limited resources for water infrastructure projects are finding that collaborative approaches such as progressive design-build delivery give them more flexibility to optimize not only the price, but also the overall result and experience for the owner agency and its ratepayers.

Topics: Collaborative Delivery.

Can P3s Accelerate Puerto Rico’s Path to Recovery?

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Melissa L. Pomales, PE, ENV SP, PMP Program Management Leader, Water - Arcadis U.S., Inc.

On September 20, 2017, all eyes were on Puerto Rico as Hurricane Maria made its way across the island and left devastation along its path. A crippling economic crisis and population decrease already painted an uncertain future for the people of Puerto Rico. Two major back-to-back hurricanes later, questions about the future turned to questions about survival. No water. No power. No communications. Scarce supplies. While conditions are improving, there are still thousands of people without power, water, and a safe sustainable infrastructure.

Topics: Arcadis, P3.

How an Integrated Design-Build Team is Essential to Achieving Lowest Whole of Life Cost in a P3 Project

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Brian Nicholas, Business Development Director, North America - Acciona Agua

There are varying definitions of a public-private partnership (P3) in the North American water sector, and each definition can impact the design-build contractor and their commercial relationships. My P3 water sector experience gained in the UK, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. is centered on the procurement model of design, build, finance, operation, and maintenance (DBFOM). In this model, a government entity (for example, a water district or authority) will create and define the scope of the project, and then issue a single contract (a project agreement) to engage a special purpose vehicle (also known as Project Company) who is responsible for the overall design, construction, financing, and usually long-term (greater than 20 years) operation and maintenance of the project.

Topics: ACCIONA Agua, Design-Build, P3.

Could You Pass a Quiz on Design-Build Terms?

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Linda Hanifin Bonner, Ph.D, Executive Operations Manager of Water Design-Build Council

Last week I reviewed a presentation featuring design-build concepts and methodology. Actually, I had to read it twice, because most of the terms in the document are no longer being used – and I was stymied as to how to approach the author with constructive feedback. While startling coming from a government official, it is not an unfamiliar situation. I hear similar outdated language and address questions about the terms used for design-build delivery methods at WDBC’s education sessions all the time.

Topics: Design-Build, Education, WDBC Admin.

How a Hybrid Procurement Approach was Successfully Used for an $800 Million Regional Wastewater Treatment Program

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Reno Fiorante, P.Eng., PE, Senior Vice President, Water - Stantec

The Capital Regional District (CRD), located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, is currently in the process of implementing a major wastewater treatment program that includes construction of a new 108-ML/d secondary wastewater treatment plant, two major pumping stations, two large diameter force mains, a 20-km residuals pipeline, a wet weather attenuation tank, and biosolids resource recovery facility. This program culminates a five-year effort in which technical planning was completed by Stantec and district representatives.

Topics: Design-Build, Fixed-Price Design-Build, Stantec, Wastewater Infrastructure/Treatment.

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