The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on Tuesday agreed to a $122 million contract with Archer Western Construction for a 12 million gallon per day water treatment plant on the Walton County reservoir.
The cost for construction of the plant is an increase from the estimated projected cost of $114.6 million the Board had received in June based on completion of 60 percent of the design work and an increase from $104.8 million at conceptual stage in September of 2023.
Construction on the plant is expected to begin in January, and completion is expected in August of 2027.
Oconee County has three representatives on the seven-member Management Board. The management Board is advisory to the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority, which also approved the contract at the meeting on Tuesday.
Design work on the water transmission system from the plant is ongoing, and the current estimated cost of that system is $39.4 million.
Oconee County, which is a partner with Walton County on the reservoir, has sold bonds to cover its contribution of $12 million to the treatment plant.
Oconee County does not need the water from the reservoir and is not contributing to the construction of the transmission system, which will provide water to Walton County Water and Sewer Authority customers.
On Wednesday, the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority, of which Oconee County also is a partner, agreed to issue $140 million in bonds to cover a doubling of its Jackson County water treatment plant to accommodate Oconee County’s future water needs.
Quality Control Manager
Much of the discussion by the Management Board on Tuesday prior to the vote on the contract was of an inclusion in the final Guaranteed Maximum Price Submission of $350,700 for “quality control management.”
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| Parker, Saxon, Thompson, Horton, Kirouac (Left To Right) 11/29/2024 |
That cost had not been included in the June estimate, which was based on the 60 percent completion of design for the treatment plant.
Project Manager Jimmy Parker said in a telephone conversation on Thursday (Nov. 21) that this expense had been included in the 90 percent cost estimate the full Board had not seen and then again in the 100 percent cost estimate that the Board reviewed on Tuesday (Nov. 19).
Oconee County Commissioner Chuck Horton, one of the county’s representatives on the Management Board, said at the meeting on Tuesday that quality control should be a part of the basic work during construction and should not have been added as a separate item in the final stages of the project.
Oconee County’s other two members of the Management Board are Oconee County Commissioner Mark Saxon, Management Board Chair, and County Administrator Justin Kirouac.
Pavel Mayfield, representing Archer Western, responded to Horton saying that this was only a matter of being transparent about the costs for the quality control.
The Management Board approved the contract without dissent, sending it to the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority. The Authority, seated at the same table, also approved.
The meeting took place at the Historic Walton County Courthouse in Monroe.
Archer Western, based in Atlanta, is part of the Walsh Group, headquartered in Chicago. The Georgia Department of Transportation on Nov. 15 selected Archer Western for construction of three new interchanges on SR 316 in Oconee County.
Archer Western had been one of two bidders for the Construction Manager-At-Risk project contract for the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir water treatment plant.
Revenue Sources
Parker on Tuesday provided the Board with a list of funding sources for construction of the water treatment plant and the water transmission system.
Nearly a third ($55.3 million, or 31.4 percent) of the total costs of $176,275,840 will be covered by grants to Oconee and Walton counties from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), designed to stabilize the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state initially awarded $42 million for the total estimated cost of the water treatment plant of $135,269,840, but added another $4.2 million after the initial grant.
Parker said in the telephone conversation on Thursday that the additional allocation was of funds that were “unclaimed” after the initial awarding of the monies.
In addition, Walton County committed $9.1 million of ARPA funds allocated to it separately during the pandemic for the treatment plant. (Oconee County used its allocated ARPA funds for broadband expansion.)
Additional revenue sources listed by Parker included $71.1 million from revenue bonds Walton County sold, and $12 million in bonds Oconee County sold for the treatment plant.
Walton County Commission Chair David Thompson, a member of the Management Board, said on Tuesday that he anticipates being able to raise another $37.9 million from loans from the Georgia Environment Finance Authority and through sale of water.
Walton County current has a contract with Newton County for the roughly 7 million gallons per day of water it is using, and Thomson said he thinks he can find a buyer for that water when the Hard Labor Creek treatment plant is online.
Spending
In addition to the $122.0 million contract approved for construction, other costs for the treatment plant include $2.1 million for a Walton EMC power transmission line and $11.1 million for design, project management, and construction administration services.
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| Parker 11/19/2024 |
In addition to the estimated cost of $39.4 million for construction of the transmission line, design, easement acquisition, project management, and construction administration services will add another $1.6 million.
That brings the total cost of the treatment plant to the $135.3 million and of the transmission system to $41.0 million, for a total project cost of $176.3 million.
Oconee County has informed the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority that it will commit only $12 million to the total project since it does not need the water.
In addition, were it to use the water, Oconee County would have to build a transmission system to bring that water to the county.
The upgrade to the treatment plant at the Bear Creek Reservoir in Jackson County by the Upper Oconee Water Basin Authority from 21 million gallons per day to 42 million gallons per day will increase Oconee County’s allocation from 4.5 million gallons per day to 9 million gallons per day.
The water transmission system from the existing treatment plant to the Oconee County water treatment plant already is in place.
At its meeting on Nov. 5, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners agreed to the sale of the $140 million in bonds to finance that project. Sale of those bonds was approved by the Upper Oconee Water Basin Authority on Wednesday (Nov. 20).
Oconee County is responsible for 23.8 percent of the costs of the treatment plant expansion.
Apalachee River Intake
At the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board meeting on Tuesday, Project Manager Parker informed the Board that work is progressing on construction of the shell of an intake facility on the Apalachee River opposite North High Shoals.
Parker said the current expected cost of construction of that shell is $3.1 million. Monies will come from the original funding for the reservoir project.
The project should be put out to bid in January or February of 2025, Parker said, with construction from April of 2025 through February of 2026.
The building will not include any pumps, Parker said, and no plans are in place for a transmission line from the intake facility to the existing reservoir.
Parker said the construction is necessary to maintain the withdraw permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that Walton County Water and Sewer Authority has for withdrawal of water from the river.
The plan is to pump that water at some point in the future to the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir to increase the capacity of the reservoir to provide treated water to Walton and Oconee counties.
Video
The video below is of the entire Nov. 19 meeting of the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board combined with the meeting of the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority.
The participants do not use microphones, and Mayfield in particular is very difficult to hear and understand.
Discussion of the costs of the treatment plant begins at 5:13 in the video.
Discussion of the intake facility at High Shoals begins at 45:17 in the video.
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