Atkins wins wastewater system improvements contract with Bullhead City, Ariz.

 TAMPA, FLA. — The City of Bullhead City, Ariz., awarded Atkins a contract to provide design, engineering, permitting, and project management services for a series of wastewater system improvements identified in the city’s Wastewater Master Plan. Under the terms of the contract, Atkins will provide a comprehensive suite of design, engineering, permitting, and construction-vendor selection services that will ultimately result in the total rehabilitation of an existing sewer lift station; construction of a new lift station; and additions, modifications, and improvements to one of the city’s wastewater treatment plants.

Bullhead City, a community of approximately 40,000, is located on the Colorado River in west-central Arizona. Over the past decade, the city has significantly upgraded its wastewater management system and currently operates two major wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), 15 sewer lift stations, and 190 miles of collection system.

“Section 208 of the Federal Clean Water Act requires that states and regions develop water-quality and wastewater management plans,” said Atkins AVP and project director Mark Elliott. “Atkins is currently providing engineering services to update Bullhead City’s Section 208 Wastewater Master Plan, which identifies key wastewater system improvement projects, including upgrading pump stations, rehabilitating the collection system, and modifying the city’s WWTPs to improve efficiency.”

“The project design, permitting, and contractor-selection work that was approved by the City is projected to take about 14 months,” Elliott observed, “with the actual construction phase beginning sometime in the fall of 2013.”

The project will be directed out of Atkins’ Lake Havasu City office with AVP and Project Director Kevin Murphy serving as principal-in-charge and AVP and Senior Group Manager Carmen Kasner serving as project manager; they will be joined by key resources and technical support from other Atkins offices.

According to Elliott, Atkins will perform a variety of services for Bullhead City, including:
• Project management and coordination
• Preliminary design and field investigation
• Final design
• Project permitting and approvals
• Subconsultant management
• Managing the project bidding process with contractors.

The city’s updated Section 208 Wastewater Master Plan addresses the current and future wastewater collection, treatment, reuse, and disposal needs within Bullhead City’s city limits and service area, and conforms to the guidelines of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The updated Plan includes revised wastewater flow forecasts that are based on several factors, including new land use and population information, traffic analysis data, and an understanding of the area’s changing economy.

The Plan also incorporates a new, precisely calibrated sewer model developed by Atkins using InfoSWMM, the urban stormwater management solution from Arcadia, Calif.-based Innovyze. City engineers and the Atkins project team will use the new model to evaluate and optimize the sewer collection system’s overall hydraulic capacity and its lift station operations.

Atkins’ contract with the City is for an initial one-year period, with an option for the city to extend the contract for up to three more one-year periods.