City Council Approved the Professional Service Agreement for the IH-10 Lift Station No. 1

The city council approved a Professional Service Agreement with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., for the IH-10 Lift Station Service Area Evaluation, in an amount not to exceed $91,000.00.

The scope of the work is to perform an evaluation of alternatives to provide additional wastewater service to the IH-10 Lift Station service area north of IH-10.  Due to the proposed costs, verification of flows, and the best alternatives to provide service is warranted.  The evaluation will lead to a report that will assist staff in determining the extent of lift station improvements beyond the required rehabilitation, identify any other possible capital projects that may be needed within the service area, possible cost-effective alternatives and solutions, and limited geotechnical investigation along the existing force main alignment to understand soil conditions if force main improvements are to be made.  This study will guide the scope of improvements in the design phase. A contract for the final design will be brought back to Council for future consideration.

The cost of the services includes the consultant’s basic services for professional engineering services in the amount of $71,800.00 and sub-consultant services for limited geotechnical investigation in the amount of $19,200.00. The total cost proposed for the professional services contract is $91,000.00.

Rankings of the committee of qualified staff members were reviewed by the A&E Committee on November 13, 2019.

A wastewater lift station is a pumping station that moves wastewater from a lower elevation to a higher elevation. The benefit of using a lift station in a sewage collection system is that it saves a substantial amount of money in excavation costs, which involves digging for sewer pipes. There is a difference between a lift station and pump station. The lift station is specifically designed for the pumping of waste or sewage material to a higher elevation versus the Pump Station which is designed to raise water, not sewage, to a higher elevation.

The funds will come out of the Impact Fees.