Valley Center hears progress and financial update on new 1.4 MGD water treatment plant

Engineers working on Valley Center's new water treatment plant told the city council the project is well underway and remains structured to protect the city's budget while advancing construction.

Dana Hinderlighter of Burns & McDonald and Reed Herman, site superintendent for CIS Construction, presented construction progress and the project's technical approach. They said the plant is being sized at 1.4 million gallons per day and uses green-sand filtration (to remove iron and manganese) followed by nanofiltration to provide softening. The design aimed to match water quality with the neighboring Witchaw system for compatibility and system redundancy.

On finances, presenters said the construction contract value is $19.7 million and that about $7 million has been paid through the end of February; the contract includes roughly 10% retainage that will be reduced after the project reaches specified completion milestones. The team described a set of allowances (roughly $2 million in the contract) for items such as well improvements and the raw water pipeline; at the time of the update staff reported about $105,000 remaining unused in allowances. Project leaders described the decision to use horizontal directional drilling and jointless pipe for the raw water pipeline to avoid tearing up Sheridan Road and reduce pavement repair costs.

Construction photos and a progress narrative showed completion of the backwash basin, slab pours and metal building erection, interior fit-out progress (admin space, lab and operator areas) and scheduled delivery windows for major equipment. Staff said startup procedures and pressure testing will span several months and that turning on water to the community will follow successful equipment testing and commissioning.

Council members had questions about allowances and schedule. Staff offered a monthly email newsletter for progress updates and directed questions about specific operational or insurance matters (raised earlier in public comment) to the rec commission or the appropriate boards.