The Portland Water Bureau recently obtained the largest Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan ever from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The $727 million, low-interest loan is expected to cover at least half of the cost of the Bull Run Filtration Project, which consists of three infrastructure improvements that are intended to provide the Portland area with clean water and a seismically resilient supply system by 2027.

“You’re going to be improving the environment; you’re doing to be reducing lead and increasing drinking water quality for over 1 million residents while adding over 4,000 jobs,” Radhika Fox, the EPA’s acting assistant administrator for water, stated during a virtual press conference. “It is everything we want to see in our communities.”

The first of the three projects will produce a new corrosion control facility at the existing Lusted Hill water treatment facility east of Gresham. Ground was broken on this in fall 2020. Highlights include construction of a new building to contain the corrosion control treatment system, a water utility water pump station, and associated piping and support systems. Work is being carried out by Colorado-based general contractor MWH Constructors and expected to be complete by April 2022, ahead of a federal regulatory deadline.

The primary purpose of this project, said Michelle Cheek, the deputy program director for the Bull Run Filtration Project and an engineering supervisor for the Water Bureau, is to make low-alkaline Bull Run water less corrosive to the copper and lead solder pipes found in some home and building plumbing – primarily systems constructed between 1970 and 1985.

The new facility will treat water to raise its alkalinity and help it meet new regulatory standards.

“The existing facility is a chemical feed facility, where they add caustic soda and chemicals to treat the water,” Cheek said. “(The caustic soda system) will be decommissioned once the new facilities are constructed. It’s a pretty process-mechanical focused project.”

The second, larger project will be construction of a new water filtration facility on city-owned property half of a mile south of the Lusted Hill one. When the new facility is brought online, it will mark the end of unfiltered water for Portland water customers.

“We will consolidate all of our treatment facilities here,” said David Peters, the program director for the Bull Run Filtration Project. “The disinfection we do in the watershed with chlorine will move to this site.”

Granular media filtration will be used to remove cryptosporidium and other contaminants, and the new treatment plant will be able to filter up to 145 million gallons of water per day. Planning began in 2017 as part of the regulatory compliance schedule and is now nearly complete. Design work is set to finish in late 2022, with construction scheduled to wrap up by 2027.

“Normally a utility would have done a number of years of planning,” Peters said. “But we had to consolidate that into our compliance schedule because we did not have a plan to do this.”

Some of the firms involved include Brown and Caldwell (program management), and Stantec and Carollo Engineers (predesign and finalization of details for the design). The joint venture of MWH Constructors and Kiewit will serve as construction manager/general contractor.

Finally, the third project will be installation of pipelines for water from the new filtration facility and corrosion control facility. Jacobs of California will design the pipelines. The Water Bureau is likely to issue in April a request for proposals for a CM/GC to handle the project, Peters said.

“We hope to have them on board by the end of the year,” he said.

The new filtration facility and the pipelines will be designed to modern seismic standards and become key components of a system designed to function even after events such as earthquakes, wildfires or storms add contaminants to water.

The Bull Run Treatment Project will generate an estimated 4,700 to 7,500 jobs, with 28 percent of journeyman work hours and 31 percent of apprentice work hours going to minorities and women in the skilled trades. The projects will deliver an estimated $200 million in contracts to disadvantaged, minority-owned, woman-owned, service-disabled-veteran-owned, and emerging small businesses.

The interest rate for the WIFIA loan will be just 1.89 percent. The loan will save the city an estimated $247.5 million in comparison to typical market financing. A combination of revenue bonds and Portland Water Bureau system funds also will be used to pay for the project.

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The city of Portland has received proposals from three contractors interested in building the Bull Run Filtration Plant, a water treatment facility – estimated to cost between $550 million and $650 million to construct.

A request for proposals for a construction manager/general contractor for the project drew submissions from Hoffman Construction, MWH-Kiewit Joint Venture of Hillsboro and Arizona-based Sundt Construction.

The facility will be constructed on a 90-acre area of unincorporated Multnomah County near the Gresham border. Granular media filtration will be used to daily treat between 145 million and 160 million gallons of water from the Bull Run watershed.

The project will include construction of an administration building, a clear well measuring up to 16 million gallons in volume, a mechanical dewatering facility and other support buildings. Earthwork could require exporting more than a million cubic yards of dirt.

Stantec Consulting Services Inc. is designing the filtration facility, and the city has hired Brown and Caldwell to provide program management and support services. The plant is the major component of the Bull Run Filtration Projects – an estimated $820 million effort that will also include construction of pipelines carrying raw and finished water into and out of the facility. The pipeline work will be designed and constructed under separate contracts.

The city earlier this year issued an RFP for design services on the pipeline portion of the project, and on April 20 issued an intent to negotiate and award to Jacobs Engineering Group.

The project is being carried out by the Portland Water Bureau at the direction of the Oregon Health Authority as a result of the presence of cryptosporidium in the Bull Run watershed. After multiple tests in 2017 revealed the presence of the pathogen, the OHA revoked the city’s variance from federal rules requiring treatment of cryptosporidium.

A compliance agreement between Portland and the OHA requires pilot plant results and preliminary planning to be completed by Nov. 30, 2020, submission of final construction plans and schedule by Oct. 31, 2022, and water delivery meeting OHA and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements by Sep. 30, 2027.

The RFP sought proposers with experience delivering large water or wastewater projects using the CM/GC method. The city of Portland’s Procurement Services division is currently in the process of evaluating proposals, and will likely conduct interviews during the selection process before issuing an intent to award, which is expected to occur next month.

Portland City Council last month agreed to enter a loan agreement with the EPA to provide up to $745 million of funding for the Bull Run Filtration Projects. The city’s Debt Management Division and the Water Bureau will seek to finalize terms and execute loan agreements this summer. The filtration facility has entered a two-year design phase, while planning for the pipelines is under way and will move to a design phase next year.

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The Portland City Council on Wednesday authorized an exemption to the low-bid process and an alternate contracting method for the city’s $350 million to $500 million project to construct a water filtration plant at Bull Run.

City officials have been wrestling with options to build a massive water treatment plant to address the persistent presence of cryptosporidium in Bull Run’s raw water intake. The waterborne parasite has been found in five samples taken by the city this year, most recently in April. It also appeared in several tests during the 2017-18 winter.

The parasite’s presence forced the city into a compliance agreement with the Oregon Health Authority to build a filtration plant. Terms of the agreement call for the plant to be in operation by Sept. 30, 2027.

City officials have selected engineering firm Brown and Caldwell Inc. to serve as project management consultant. The first reading on the firm’s selection was Wednesday, and the contract is expected to be formally approved during a second reading next week. The contract is worth $67.89 million.

Brown and Caldwell is based in Walnut Park, California, but it has a Portland office on Southwest Macadam Avenue.

Brown and Caldwell’s Jon Holland is listed as program manager. The consultant is required to adhere to the city’s guidelines for disadvantaged, minority-owned, woman-owned and emerging small-business contractors. The contract proposes 22 percent DMWESB participation.

According to the Portland Water Bureau‘s timeline, a construction manager-general contractor will be selected for the project in the fourth quarter of 2019. Hiring a CM-GC is likely to lead to lower costs and a faster construction schedule, said David Peters, principal engineer for the Water Bureau. The CM-GC will be selected through a competitive request for proposals process.

“This is a fully competitive process,” Procurement Services Manager Larry Pelatt said. “There is no limitation on who can bid, but you do want to get some specialized kind of people.”

City officials are considering a plant with capacity to filter 160 million gallons per day, according to documents presented to the City Council. That will meet peak-day capacity until 2045. A facility smaller than 145 million gallons per day would require increased use of groundwater, while a larger facility is not supported by growth projections, according to the Water Bureau.

The plant’s capacity, location and method of filtration are still to be decided, Commissioner Amanda Fritz said. Further community consultation is expected in early 2019.

Last year, the council voted to move forward with planning for a filtration plant. An ultraviolet light treatment system was considered but ultimately rejected.

The Water Bureau has applied for an Environmental Protection Agency grant, Pelatt said.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Dee White, a local resident who actively follows water issues, criticized costs of previous city projects and questioned the city’s process in selecting contractors.

“This is not so transparent,” she said.

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Two competitive solicitations for construction of $10.2 million in sewer rehabilitation projects are scheduled for approval by the Portland City Council on Wednesday.

The involves the replacement of 15,700 feet, or roughly 3 miles, of sewer line in the Northeast Portland neighborhood.

The project is estimated to cost $6,225,000 and is part of a larger effort to replace failing sewer lines. The lines in the North Montavilla area are on average more than 80 years old, according to a draft ordinance prepared for the City Council.

A parallel project in the South Montavilla area for 6,500 feet of sewer replacement is estimated to cost $4 million.

The Bureau of Environmental Services and engineering consultant Brown and Caldwell have prepared plans for rehabilitating or replacing the deteriorated sewer pipe, including sewer manholes and service laterals, according to the ordinance.

The project is likely to impact traffic on Southeast Washington and Division streets, and near 82nd Avenue.

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