Downing Construction receives FPUD recycled water line extension construction contract

The bid process to construct an extension of the Fallbrook Public Utility District's (FPUD) recycled water line system resulted in Downing Construction, Inc., being awarded a $1,724,618 contract.

FPUD's board voted 5-0 May 18 to approve the contract with Downing Construction, which is based in Yucaipa. Approximately 2 1/2 miles of pipeline will be added, and the extension will serve growers in the southeastern part of FPUD's service area.

"This will allow us to nearly double our sales of recycled water," said FPUD general manager Brian Brady.

The extension is expected to add 642 acre-feet per year of recycled water use, which would reduce potable water demand by that amount while also reducing FPUD's treated water discharge. FPUD currently produces approximately 2,000 acre-feet of recycled water each year, but due to the piping system limitations only 600 to 700 acre-feet of that is sold. FPUD currently has 25 recycled water customers, mostly large nurseries.

In November 2006, the state's voters passed Proposition 84, which authorized $1 billion for Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) programs including $91 million for the San Diego region.

The state's Department of Water Resources (DWR) issues multiple rounds of solicitations for grant applications, and in March 2014 Governor Brown signed legislation directing DWR to expedite $200 million of IRWM grants (which is approximately 44 percent of the remaining Proposition 84 funding) to support projects which would provide immediate regional drought preparedness, increase local water supply reliability and the delivery of safe drinking water, assist in the implementation of conservation programs which are not cost-effective locally, or reduce water quality or ecosystem conflicts caused by the drought.

In June 2014, the San Diego County Water Authority approved an application for $15,075,025 of 2014 IRWM drought implementation grants including a $795,160 grant for FPUD to expand its recycled water system to serve additional plant nurseries. DWR announced its awards in November, and the expansion of FPUD's recycled water system was given $772,000 in grant funding. FPUD will partner with the Mission Resource Conservation District and the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

On Jan. 26, the FPUD board adopted an environmental Negative Declaration for the extension. After the environmental permitting process was completed, FPUD staff solicited bids for the project. Nine companies submitted bids by the April 15 deadline. The low bid was submitted by Universal Pipeline, Inc. but, after a bid error was discovered, the Menifee company requested to withdraw its bid and FPUD granted that request. The $1,724,618 amount submitted by Downing Construction was the second-lowest bid.

FPUD's 2015-16 budget process will provide the funding not supplied by the DWR grant. Construction is expected to begin in fall 2015. The extended system is expected to be in operation by mid-2016.