The City of Brea provides wastewater collection services to the entire area within its boundaries, as well as unincorporated Orange County and a small portion of Placentia for approximately 14,555 acres. The City’s existing wastewater collection is made up of a network of gravity sewers and force mains of over one hundred fourteen (114) miles of varying pipe sizes of 8 inch to 27 inch. The City owns and operates three lift stations.
The overall goals of preparing and implementing a Sewer Master Plan are to evaluate the existing condition of the sewer system; ensure adequate capacity exists to effectively collect and transport sewage generated in the City; and to identify and plan for needed capital improvements to the system. The plan also helps to ensure that the City remains compliant with new and constantly changing State regulations related to sewer system management.
The City’s existing Sewer Master Plan and Sanitary Sewer Management Plan were last updated in 2005. At that time, the plan identified over $27 million in needed capital improvements to the system. The improvements include pipe upsizing to increase collection capacity; improvements and repairs to existing pipelines; and lift station improvement projects. Over the years, the City has completed many capital projects that were identified in the 2005 Master Plan along with other areas that surfaced.
Almost 15 years have passed since the Sewer Master Plan was last updated and projects included in that update have since been completed. Moreover, existing sewer infrastructure not rehabilitated as part of the previous plan is now 15 years older. Additionally, new private development projects have been constructed since the last Sewer Master Plan was adopted and their future impacts to the sewer system’s capacity and flow as a whole must be evaluated.
The purpose of the proposed 2020 Sewer Master Plan update is to re-evaluate the entire system and to identify capital improvements, if needed, to the system for the next ten years, as well as update regulatory documents as required by the State. The main tasks to be completed as part of this scope of work include:
- Update Sewer Collection System Capacity Analysis;
- Perform a condition assessment of our sewer system;
- Develop a list of prioritized capital improvements for the system;
- Conduct Sewer System Management Plan Audit as required by State regulation; and
- Update the City’s Sanitary Sewer Overflow Emergency Response Plan to ensure compliance with existing State regulations
Proposals for these services were requested from nine (9) engineering firms in June of this year with only one proposal being submitted by AKM Consulting Engineers (AKM). Given the limited turnout for proposals, staff reached out to each company to verify why the companies did not submit a proposal. Following are their responses:
Company |
RFP Results |
Notes/Comments |
AKM Consulting Engineers |
Submitted by deadline |
|
Dudek |
Declined |
Did Not Have Resources |
Civiltec |
Declined |
Did Not Have Resources |
VA Consulting |
Did Not Submit |
No Reason Given |
Arcadis |
Did Not Submit |
No Reason Given |
Harris & Associates |
Did Not Submit |
No Reason Given |
Carollo |
Declined |
Personnel Unavailable |
Psomas |
Did Not Submit |
No Reason Given |
RMC |
Declined |
Personnel Unavailable |
Firms cited both existing workloads and prior commitments and insufficient resources to assist the City with the magnitude of the project as reasons they did not submit proposals to the City. AKM prepared the City’s previous Sewer Master Plan in 2005 and has a high level of familiarity with the City’s sewer collection system. AKM has also provided engineering design services for numerous City Capital Improvement Projects. AKM specializes in the preparation of master plans of this nature and has completed similar plans for numerous public agencies. AKM submitted a cost proposal totaling $373,069 to provide the services noted previously. This cost includes preparation of the Master Plan; updating the City sewer database/inventory; installing sewer flow monitors; contingency; and updating the City’s Sewer Auditing report that is required every two years. Staff have reviewed AKM’s proposal and the cost is in line with this type of work. Any contingency that is not used in AKM’s proposal will not be billed to the City.
To complete the study, the sewer lines require Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) to adequately determine the integrity of the line. The City has over 100 miles of sewer lines which will require CCTV. The last time the sewer lines were CCTV was in 1999, over 20 years ago. To prepare a Sewer Master Plan, the sewer lines must be CCTV to determine any defects, intrusions and or broken material. CCTV is the only way that this can be effectively evaluated. Staff prepared a bid package for over 100 miles of the City’s sewer lines to be cleaned and CCTV by a contractor. The bid package was publicly advertised with a bid opening date of January 2, 2020.
On January 2, 2020, eight bids were received with the following results:
1. PipeTec, Inc. |
$514,824.60 |
2.Tunnel Works |
$575,392.20 |
3. Houston & Harris |
$650,496.02 |
4. Empire Pipe Cleaning & Equipment, Inc. |
$690,470.64 |
5. National Plant Services, Inc. |
$805,549.08 |
6. Pro Pipe Professional Pipe Services |
$884,286.96 |
7. Nor-Cal Pipeline Services |
$896,400.48 |
8. DownStream Services, Inc |
$1,011,478.92 |
The lowest responsive bidder was PipeTec in the amount of $514,824.60. Staff has reviewed the bids and this is within the Engineer’s estimate.
The cost to prepare the master plan update totals $887,893.60, which includes updating the City’s Sewer Auditing report to ensure compliance with State regulations. |
The cost to prepare the 2020 Sewer Master Plan Update is $887,893.60 which includes the cleaning of the sewer lines, CCTV and updating the City’s Sewer Auditing report. Adequate funds from the Sewer Fund in the amount of $1,000,000 have been budgeted within the FY 2019-20 Capital Improvement Program Project #7609 to cover the costs of this project. The last Sewer Master Plan was adopted in 2005 and the City sewer lines were last videoed in 1999. The City’s sewer infrastructure needs to be re-evaluated to identify defects, deficiencies and capacity issues. This evaluation will provide a road map and plan for capital projects to replace, repair and/or upsize lines to continue a safe sewer collection system. |
William Gallardo, City Manager
Prepared by: Warren Coleman, Sr. Management Analyst
Concurrence: Michael Ho, P.E., Deputy Director of Public Works / City Engineer
Tony Olmos, P.E., Director of Public Works |