REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
January 26, 2017
FROM: THOMAS C. ESQUEDA, Director
Department of Public Utilities
BY: MICHAEL CARBAJAL, Planning Manager
Department of Public Utilities - Water Division
MATTHEW L. BULLIS, P.E., Professional Engineer
Department of Public Utilities - Water Division
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to consultant services agreement with Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group, Inc. (Citywide):
1. Approve a professional consultant services agreement with Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group, Inc., for an amount not to exceed $268,000, for Engineering Design and Feasibility Analysis for Removal of Trichloropropane from Groundwater Extraction Wells
2. Authorize the Director of Public Utilities, or designee, to sign all documents on behalf of the City of Fresno
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that City Council approve a professional consultant services agreement with Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group, Inc., for an amount not to exceed $268,000, for Engineering Design and Feasibility Analysis for Removal of Trichloropropane from Groundwater Extraction Wells; and authorize the Director of Public Utilities, or designee, to sign all documents on behalf of the City of Fresno
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Fresno (City) serves approximately 513,000 residential customers; 35,000 commercial and industrial accounts through a network of approximately 1,800 miles of pipeline, surface water treatment facilities and 237 municipal water wells. This project is needed to assess the feasibility of additional water well treatment to meet new State drinking water regulations being implemented for 2018. Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group was selected as the most qualified firm to meet the City’s needs for this project.
BACKGROUND
The City of Fresno (City) drinking water demands are approximately 42,360 million gallons annually, which is currently met by a combination of groundwater and treated surface water. Groundwater production is achieved by utilization of approximately 237 active municipal wells, while surface water is provided by two existing plants: the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Facility and T-3 treatment facility. Additional surface water will be available in late 2018 with the implementation of the new 80 million gallon per day (mgd) Southeast Surface Water Treatment Facility. While the intent is for the surface water plants to alleviate most of the City water demand, water wells will continue to play an important role in meeting the overall needs of the water purveyance system, particularly during peak demand, for system redundancy, in areas distant from the surface water plants and during plant shutdowns.
Starting in 2018, the State of California has established new groundwater regulations for 1,2,3 - Trichloropropane (TCP), a chemical present in drinking water. TCP was widely used in the 1950’s and 1960’s as an industrial solvent and soil fumigant and due to its low adsorption capabilities, did not adhere to soil after application which resulted in the product migrating to groundwater. The State is proposing a new drinking water standard Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) limit of 5 ppt (parts per trillion) for this constituent, which will require advanced levels of treatment for all impacted wells. Currently, forty five of the City’s 270 drinking water wells have detected the presence of TCP in the water supply. The Department is seeking assistance in the feasibility and design of treating groundwater and prioritizing well treatment system options for compliance with this new State regulation. The consultant work scope will include review of best available technology available to treat the groundwater, provide capital and operations cost estimates, prioritize the wells to be upgraded with new treatment systems and perform field studies on the selected treatment options to evaluate product cleanup effectiveness.
In accordance with Fresno Municipal Code Chapter 4, Article 1, and Administrative Order 6-19, the Department of Public Utilities conducted a competitive process to select consultants to provide professional services to perform feasibility analysis for removal of TCP from groundwater wells. Announcements were published in the Fresno Business Journal and on PlanetBids Online requesting that interested consultants contact the Water Division to obtain a request for qualifications (RFQ) for this project. The Water Division received requests from three consulting firms and distributed RFQs to each. The RFQ requested that consultants provide a statement of qualifications (SOQ) by September 9, 2016, and the Water Division received three SOQs by the due date. The SOQs were evaluated by a selection committee consisting of representatives from the Water Division. Upon completion of the evaluation, scope and fee negotiation process, Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group (Consultant) was selected as the most qualified to meet the City’s needs for this project.
The Consultant’s scope of work will include a comprehensive feasibility analysis of the well TCP problem including: summarizing the impact of the TCP contamination on the City’s water system as a whole; detailing the specific impacts to individual water systems; identification of the most economical solutions, resolve well citing issues, and providing cost information necessary for the planning of engineering design to abate the contamination.
The services required by this agreement will be completed in approximately 180 consecutive calendar days from the authorization to proceed. The contract is for a not to exceed amount of $268,000 which includes a $24,000 contingency.
A standardized consultant service agreement has been used in accordance with Administrative Order 4-4, and the consultant’s Certificates of Insurance have been approved by the City’s Risk Management Division. Upon approval by the City Council, the agreement will be executed by the Director of Public Utilities or designee.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
The approval of the Agreement is not a project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to CEQA guidelines Section 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was implemented; the Consultant is a local business as defined by Fresno Municipal Code 4-109(b).
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of the consultant services agreement will not impact the General Fund. Funding for this project is included in the Water Division’s FY2017 capital improvement budget within the Water Enterprise Fund (40101).
Attachment:
City Standard Agreement