PROJECT

Dodd Water Treatment Plant Capacity Expansion

The Dodd Water Treatment Plant needed additional capacity to serve the Left Hand Water District’s 20,000 customers during summer peak demand. In a partnership with Garney Construction, we permitted, designed and constructed the plant upgrades using progressive design-build delivery, increasing capacity from 8 million gallons per day (MGD) to 10 MGD, with potential for expansion to 16 MGD over time.

The project schedule was a critical factor for the district, and the team used design-build purchasing advantages to prepurchase major systems and complete site excavation while working out the key plant details. The design-build team also collaborated to identify project phasing and value engineering options that provided schedule and budget advantages.

During design, Garney provided reviews and work packages while developing the guaranteed maximum price (GMP). Construction started once the GMP was established, before final design. This accelerated the schedule so that excavation was complete in parallel with final design, allowing the immediate move into plant construction.

The facility is a peaking plant, operating only during the summer when water demand from farmers and residents is heaviest with Left Hand’s 110-square-mile service area in Boulder and Weld counties. The existing plant remained operation until fall and had to be ready to come back online in late spring the following year. Demolition and installation of membranes were included in the nine-month shutdown window, leaving no margin for error.

Substantial completion was achieved ahead of schedule and below budget.

Client

Left Hand Water District

Location

Niwot, Colorado

Region

Southwest

Services

Municipal Water & Wastewater

Advanced Water & Wastewater Treatment

Industry

Water

Case Study

Want to learn more about this project?

Water Utility Sees Design-Build Benefits With Quick Facility Upgrade  

Plant Systems

The plant’s design includes conventional pretreatment with high-rate inclined plate settlers, microfiltration/ultrafiltration membranes, a clearwell and high-service pumping. Additional facility components include administration spaces, a laboratory and a control center; chemical storage and feed for a coagulant, as well as sodium permanganate, sodium hypochlorite, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluorosilicic acid, citric acid, powder activated carbon, caustic soda, and sodium bisulfite; and full site development, including solids holding ponds, storm drainage and raw water pipes.

Procuring the membrane filtration system before the final design phase allowed our team to optimize the design of the existing facility spaces and to minimize overall project costs. The membrane building layout was developed so that no future building expansion would be required to expand the design capacity to 16 MGD.

Our team was responsible for all design and construction aspects of the project including preliminary design, process and ancillary equipment design, preparation of design documents, coordination with local building and fire departments and other state and local government agencies, equipment procurement, and construction.