Kirtley Construction awarded contract for Afton Farms waterline extension

The Rainbow Municipal Water District awarded a contract for the Afton Farms waterline extension to Kirtley Construction, Inc., which does business as TK Construction.

A 4-0 Rainbow board vote Oct. 27, with Bob Lucy absent, authorized a $136,760 contract with the San Bernardino company. The Afton Farms pipeline extension will construct 1,460 feet of eight-inch waterline and loop the pipeline system from Afton Farms to Calle de Talar, which will eliminate two dead ends in Rainbow's infrastructure system.

"It will save us money in the long run," said Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy.

Currently the Rainbow district installs temporary pipe when the San Diego County Water Authority performs maintenance activity and shuts down the portion of the SDCWA aqueduct system serving the area, so the permanent looping would allow the area to be served from either end of the Rainbow pipeline system and thus improve reliability for those customers. Even during periods of normal operations, the looping will provide a redundant source of supply to the zone to increase reliability.

Rainbow staff prepared a bid package and advertised for formal bids. A pre-bid meeting was held on Oct. 9, and nine companies responded by the Oct. 21

bid opening date.

The bid specifications did not stipulate whether polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe was to be used. "Either method would work for us," Kennedy said.

Kirtley Construction utilized HDPE pipe in its bid, which was the lowest of the nine submitted bids, while the other eight companies included PVC pipe in their bid package.

In the absence of weather delays the district expects the

construction to be complete by the end of January.