To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Matt Benak, P.E., Water Resources Manager
Scott Tait, E.I., Project Manager
Title
Resolution Approving a Service Agreement with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc., for the Chatfield Reservoir Pump Back Project [Northwestern Douglas County and Southeastern Jefferson County]
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
Castle Rock Water (CRW) is seeking Town Council approval of a resolution (Attachment A) approving a services agreement (Exhibit 1) in the amount of $349,149.00 with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. (B&McD) along with a $34,914.90 (10%) staff-managed contingency, for a total authorization of $384,063.90 to begin preliminary engineering and design services for the proposed Chatfield Reservoir Pump Back Infrastructure.
CRW’s Water Resources Strategic Master Plan identifies the Chatfield Reservoir Pump Back infrastructure as a key project to convey our renewable water that is captured and stored in Chatfield Reservoir. Presently, CRW has approximately 775 AF of water stored in Chatfield.
CRW staff used a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process and reached out to six professional engineering firms. Two of those firms responded with qualified proposals. After review of the proposals, staff recommends awarding the project to B&McD.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
CRW staff will meet with the largest property owners along the proposed 12-mile pipeline corridor to discuss the reservoir intake, pumping station and pipeline easement details. As the preliminary engineering and design is developed, a land acquisition firm will be engaged to assist with property access for surveying and easement acquisitions along the corridor when the selected alternative is known.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
Castle Rock Water staff presented this item to the Castle Rock Water Commission at their meeting held on August 31, 2022, and the Castle Rock Water Commission voted unanimously (7 to 0) to recommend Town Council approve the Resolution as presented.
Discussion
The need for a sustainable long-term water supply was identified in CRW’s Water Resources Strategic Master Plan and one of the major goals of that plan is establishment of a renewable, sustainable water supply that accounts for 75% of the annual demand for water in Castle Rock. Renewable water sources for Castle Rock include a combination of existing surface water rights along East and West Plum Creek, reusable lawn irrigation return flows, reclaimed water flows, imported surface water from outside of the Plum Creek Basin, and surface water rights on the South Platte River.
Being able to fully capture CRW’s renewable water rights is a key element in the plan for a long term sustainable water supply. Water that cannot be captured at the Plum Creek Diversion flows down to Chatfield Reservoir for storage. Year around operation of the Chatfield Pump Back Infrastructure is necessary to optimize the use of our renewable and reusable water rights.
The major source of inflows to Chatfield Reservoir are Plum Creek and the South Platte River. The lower concentration of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in the South Platte River blends with the more highly concentrated TDS in Plum Creek within Chatfield Reservoir. The resultant blended water exhibits a TDS concentration that is lower than the EPA’s Secondary Drinking Water Standard (500 mg/l). The Chatfield Pump Back Project water will be used to take advantage of this blending particularly during the winter months as roadway salting events tend to increase TDS loading within Plum Creek.
The Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Project is a water storage project that began in 2004 to reallocate flood storage space in the existing Chatfield Reservoir located in northwest Douglas County to space that can be used for storing renewable water supplies. The Town of Castle Rock is currently, and has been since 2004, a participant in this Project. On June 7, 2014, Town Council approved a resolution to reduce the Town’s participation in the Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project from 1,500.3 AF to 200 AF based on staff’s recommendations of the then current need for storage in Chatfield by the Town and for the need to allocate funding to other renewable water projects.
However, as the Town continued to develop and firm its renewable water rights on Plum Creek and the South Platte River, in addition to its fully reusable return flows, additional storage in Chatfield became extremely beneficial. In July 2015, the Town entered into a multi-year agreement with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to purchase shares in the Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Project. This agreement has allowed the Town to spread out the project costs over time while the Project had been undergoing design and construction activities.
Construction activities for the Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Project were substantially completed in December 2019. The final Project construction costs were approximately $167,016,960, which was $3.97 million less than the last official Project estimate. The Chatfield Reservoir Management Company (CRMC) had been directed to utilize the remaining funds to pay for the first five years of post-construction Project obligations, such as vegetation and habitat monitoring, erosion monitoring, weed management and new vegetation irrigation.
In early 2020, CRMC staff worked diligently to finalize the remaining USACE submittals that were a requirement prior to first storage. These final submittals were officially approved by USACE on May 13, 2020 who indicated that all recreation modifications, compensatory mitigation features, real estate interests, and other modifications to the Project had been satisfactorily completed. Payment for first storage was made by CRMC on May 14, 2020 to USACE. First storage of water into the reallocated storage space occurred on May 15, 2020, with Castle Rock Water being the first entity to store water.
On May 17, 2022 Town Council approved the purchase of an additional 129 AF of storage (the Town now owns 719 AF of storage) with the option to store water up to 2,000 AF in our optioned pool owned by CWCB.
In 2019, the South Metro Water Authority contracted with Jacobs Engineering to conduct a detailed evaluation of pipeline alternatives for the stakeholders in the Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Project. As a major stakeholder, Castle Rock Water participated in the study in which the generated economics and engineering results pointed to a Chatfield Western Shore intake as being the most beneficial for Castle Rock Water for direct pumping back to Castle Rock, for water exchanges partnerships and utilizing a permitted temporary intake currently leased to Denver Water. A second alternative of a Chatfield Southern Shore intake is also beneficial from a cost perspective, however, it limits partnerships and its potential cost sharing benefits along with a considerably longer permitting timeline for a new US Army Corps of Engineers permitted intake structure on the southern shore of the reservoir. Jacobs Engineering completed their work in June of 2020.
The anticipated Western Shore intake, pipeline, pump station and pipeline corridor is roughly 12 miles in total length and runs south from the west of Chatfield Reservoir along S. Wadsworth Rd., east along W. Waterton Rd., south along N. Rampart Rd. and then connecting to CRW’s existing, roughly 7-mile-long, southeast Ravenna easement for discharge to Castle Rock Reservoir #1 and future Castle Rock Reservoir #2 (see Attachment B).
In July 2022, Staff issued a RFP (Exhibit 1) to 6 engineering firms for preliminary engineering and design services of the reservoir intake, pipeline, pump station and pipeline infrastructure based on Jacobs Engineering’s detailed evaluation. Two proposals were received, from Burns & McDonnell and HDR.
Staff has reviewed the proposals and is of the opinion that the proposed effort and scope is appropriate for the project and that the rates and fees are fair and competitive when reviewed with engineering costs for projects similar in nature. CRW is recommending entering a professional services agreement with B&McD.
B&McD estimates 8 months of duration for preliminary engineering and design services. Subsequent final design bidding is anticipated in the summer of 2023.
Budget Impact
Funding for this project will come from the 2022 budget as shown below.
|
Project |
Account Number |
Budget |
Available Balance |
This Authorization |
|
Chatfield West Alt Proj |
211-4375-443.78-03 |
$400,000.00 |
$400,000.00 |
$384,063.90 |
Staff Recommendation
Staff and Castle Rock Water Commission recommend Town Council approval of a services contract in the amount of $349,149.00 with B&McD, along with contingency of $34,914.90 resulting in a total project authorization of $384,063.90 for Chatfield Reservoir Pump Back Infrastructure preliminary engineering and design.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the Resolution as introduced by title.”
Alternative Motions
“I move to approve the Resolution as introduced by title, with the following conditions: (list conditions).”
“I move to continue this item to the Town Council meeting on ___date to allow additional time to (list information needed).”
Attachments
Attachment A: Resolution
Exhibit 1: Agreement
Attachment B: Alignment Corridor Map