The Lake Forest City Council approved bids on April 17 to engineer and construct a new filter system for the city’s water plant.
JJ Henderson and Son will handle construction at a cost of $8.8 million over the next two years, with completion expected by the second quarter of 2019, according to documents on the city website.
Strand Associates will do construction engineering, at a cost of $570,000, according to city documents. The total cost of the project, which includes a contingency fee of $441,000, is $9.8 million, according to city documents.
The project has its roots in a May 2014 letter from a filter manufacturer in France named Aquasource, according to city documents. The letter said Aquasource would no longer manufacture the 18-inch diameter water filters it had supplied to Lake Forest since April 2004, said Mike Thomas, director of Public Works.
“They were the only ones with 18-inch filters,” Thomas said. “Today the standard is 10-inch.”
City staff considered buying water from neighboring communities and privatizing its water plant before deciding that refitting its water plant was the best option, according to city documents.
The new 10-inch filters will allow the city to filter and pump up to 14 million gallons a day, Thomas said. The plant can currently filter and process up to 6 million gallons per day, he said. That increase could be useful, Thomas said.
“We might go from two to three million gallons a day in February to – if you take us to a drought situation in July or August – 11 million gallons per day or more,” Thomas said.
The city will issue $9.45 million in bonds, with the remainder of the project being paid from the water capital fund, said Elizabeth Holleb, director of finance. The city will go out for bid on bonds on May 15, she said.
Holleb said the city will have paid off an existing bond in fiscal 2024 and the upcoming bond issue for the water plant would take its place. Until 2024, the city will pay only interest on the upcoming bond issue, Holleb said, and begin paying principal in 2024.
“We think the impact will be minimal,” said Holleb.
The water plant was privately built in 1891 and purchased by the city in 1921, Thomas said.
[email protected] More Top Picks Greenworks 40v 16
@reporterdude