County Gets Go Ahead on Los Osos Sewer Plant
by Jack McCurdy
The Los Osos sewer project passed a major milestone when the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors officially agreed to accept responsibility to build the new plant, which is estimated to cost in the $190 million range, after more than five years of being bogged down in controversy over what to build, where to build it, and which governmental agency would undertake it. The project was taken out of the hands of the Los Osos Community Services District in 2006 when then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill authored by Senator Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo that allowed the county to take control. On March 15, it officially did so. No date has been estimated on the start of construction of the project.
The supervisors adopted a resolution of intention to proceed with the sewer plant, which put it firmly on track for contractors to bid on designing the new project. After rejecting one plan proposed by the county, the California Coastal Commission last June approved the outlines of the plant to be located at 2198 Los Osos Valley Road. Previously, it had been proposed to be located near downtown Los Osos.
Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH), which has been the design engineer for the Morro Bay/Los Osos wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) project, withdrew from consideration as the design contractor for the Los Osos plant at the new site. John Waddell, the county's Los Osos project manager, said the big international firm told him it bowed out because of the "controversy" that it had been embroiled in when the project was in the hands of the Community Services District and since. MWH has been accused of wrongdoing and unprofessional conduct in New Orleans, Florida, Washington, and Oregon.
Since the planning for the Morro Bay/Cayucos WWTP project must be started anew after the California Coastal Commission rejected the project proposed by Morro Bay/Cayucos on March 11, it remains to be seen whether MWH will be involved in designing a new project.
Waddell said the Los Osos project will be divided into two parts. One is for a system for collecting waste water, which consists of piping to be installed and upgraded for delivery of waste water to a new sewer plant. The other is for the sewer plant, which processes that water.
A firm named CDM, located in Cambridge, Mass., is the only remaining bidder for the contract to design the collection system. Its website describes itself this way:
CDM is a consulting, engineering, construction and operations firm delivering exceptional service to public and private clients worldwide. As an employee-owned firm, we take pride in the freedom to put our clients first and apply our minds and passions to imagine and create sustainable solutions.
The collection system request for proposals (RFP) is expected to be issued by the county in the next few months with the construction contract
RFP in early 2012, Waddell said.
The plan for the construction of the plant itself has been for a combination design and build, but whether that design-build approach will be
continued is under review. Therefore, no time frame for a construction RFP is available as yet, Waddell said.
The report to the Board of Supervisors on March 15 said the county anticipates obtaining $86.2 million from the State Revolving Fund and
another $82.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a total of $173.6 million to build the collection system and sewer plant. The county has committed about $8 million, Waddell said, which means the total cost of the collections system and sewer plant is anticipated to be in the $190 million range, he said.
