Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board members approved $754,000 in expenses for infrastructure improvements at the local water treatment plant when meeting Monday, Feb. 28.
Board members Mike Gibbs, Hubert Parker, Billy Rowe, Tony Whitaker and Don Callihan had questions and comments about some of the proposed improvements during a workshop that preceded the meeting.
The approved expenses were split between two upcoming projects — putting a CO2 system in at the water plant and improvements at the plant’s raw water intake for the Cartecay River.
Gibbs said he and the other board members had some “sticker shock” with all the contract items arriving at once.
“We haven’t had to have that much at one time in quite a while, and I think we’re pretty lucky on that,” he added.
Gary McVey, water authority director, said the water authority is trying to save some money on the two “major projects” by acting as its own general contractor and using different contractors for different parts of the work.
“We’d started getting some ridiculous quotes from contractors saying, ‘We’ll do this thing turn-key for you,’” McVey said. “We’re trying to save as much as we can. That’s why we’re doing this in pieces instead of getting one contractor to come in and do it all.”
The biggest of the approved expenses was $545,988 for construction of an electrical building and generator pad, along with installation of all electrical equipment, for the Cartecay raw water intake project. That contract went to TADO Construction, of Marietta,
Also approved was $33,732 for two 250HP variable speed drives that will be housed by the electrical building. McVey said the last upgrade to that type of electrical equipment was done probably 20 years ago.
“What really hits me hard is that $545,000 for the building,” Gibbs said.
The variable speed drives are sensitive equipment that can’t be left outside, which is why the building is needed, McVey noted. He said the new drives will allow the water plant to use less energy, which will lower energy costs over time.
“It’s going to save a lot of start-ups and shutdowns, which we feel will save a lot of wear and tear on our equipment,” he added.
McVey said the CO2 injection system is needed to improve alkalinity of raw water treated at the plant.
“It never was great, but the past few years we’ve seen the alkalinity in the river declining steadily, and it’s got to where it’s become a problem. This is going to allow them to have a better range where they will have time to react better and not, what we call, lose the water in a rain event,” McVey said.
Contracts awarded for the CO2 system project include:
$110,327 for installation of system components including a concrete pad, steel piping and electrical utility rack, also to Marietta’s TADO Construction.
$19,797 for reconfiguration of piping at the water plant, to CC&A, of Gray, Ga.
$19,125 for power feed and all electrical connections, to White Electric, of Chattanooga, Tenn.
$25,350 for integrating the CO2 system with the water plant’s SCADA system, to Woodard and Curran.
At last month’s water board meeting, board members approved a $328,900 expense for purchasing the actual CO2 system.
Whitaker asked McVey how widespread the use of CO2 systems are in water plants. McVey said the only one he knows of in Georgia that’s using it right now is Rome.
“A lot of times, our colleagues have alkalinity in the numbers that we need it (to be in). A lot of our neighbors don’t have those alkalinity problems that we have,” he added. “The CO2 (system) is basically for our operators to treat the water better and be able to produce a better quality product.”
Gibbs called the expensive CO2 system “a hard pill to swallow.”
“I’m just wondering what else we might be looking at. It seems like I’ve been hearing CO2 for a long time. I’m just wondering what else will be left,” he added.
McVey said the equipment is expensive, and costs are going up. The cost of tank materials for the system went up $40,000 from the time the water authority got a quote and was able to order the materials, he said.
McVey said he will provide a summary of the CO2 system work showing exactly how much is spent on the project.
“Not all capital improvement projects are going to be extension projects. I know those are the ones that garner the most attention, but from time to time, we do need to upgrade our existing infrastructure,” he added.