Clinton WTP Phase II Expansion Project

Project Summary

Portions of the Clinton Water Treatment Plant (WTP) were expanded in 2002 to meet the raw and transfer water pumping needs as well as filtration requirements.  This Phase II project will complete the expansion by constructing a new basin train, upgrading the chemical feed facilities, increasing the high service pumping capacity, and repairing and upgrading several ancillary support needs.  The attached Figure 1 shows the proposed improvements.

The new basins will be 50% larger than the existing basins, which will allow the total plant capacity to increase from 10 million gallons per day (mgd) to 25 mgd.  The chemical feed systems will be upgraded to handle the increased flow from the plant.  A new High Service Pumping Station No. 2 will be constructed to house two additional 5 mgd horizontal split case pumps for the West Hills service level.  

Several upgrades will be included with the plant expansion to enhance the reliability of the plant.  These include replacing the drive equipment for the existing basins, replacing the existing 2,400 volt electrical gear with 480 volt equipment, and adding an additional Central Service pump to High Service Pumping Station No. 2.  The existing basin equipment and electrical gear is approximately 25 years old and is nearing the end of its useful life.  By replacing this equipment before it fails, it allows the City the flexibility to procure the equipment at a competitive price and schedule the replacement to coincide with the plant shut downs that will already be required for the expansion.  The additional Central Service pump allows the City greater flexibility to deliver water to that service level in the event of a shut down at the Kaw WTP.

This expansion project is projected to cost $15.5 million, with approximately $1.8 million for engineering, and $13.7 million for construction.  Please see Figure 2 for a detailed breakdown of the anticipated costs.

This construction estimate is above the costs anticipated in the 2003 Water Master Plan, which was $10,168,586.  Since 2003, there have been significant increases in the cost of ready mix concrete, structural steel, reinforcing steel, stainless steel, cast iron, and petroleum, which not only affects the cost of petroleum based products such as PVC, HDPE and other plastics, but also freight costs.  The cost of concrete has increased over 20% since 2003.  Steel peaked at over a 75% increase since 2003, and was on the decline until the Hurricane Katrina, and it is on the rise again.  Electrical switchgear and generators are on backorder for 6 to 9 months or more as a result of the hurricane damage.  Projects since 2003 have seen increases of 13 to 20% over the past two years.  Some analysts anticipate the impact of the hurricanes to have an additional 10 to 20% impact on construction costs over the next two years.  The Master Plan did not include the reliability improvements that have been added to the project.

This project will expand the Clinton WTP capacity by 15 mgd and the total City capacity to 42.5 mgd.  The 2003 Water Master Plan projected that this will provide the City with enough water treatment capacity until the year 2018, although the Clinton raw water pumping capacity will need to be increased to 25 mgd by the year 2012.