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Wastewater plant estimate jumps to $42M after bids, city seeks grants and scope reductions
Summary
City staff told council the wastewater treatment plant project’s estimated cost rose from a long-stated $30M to an original bid estimate of $48M; staff have trimmed the scope to about $42M and are pursuing additional grant funding and scope reductions (including potential deferral of biosolids processing) while CDPHE permitting remains delayed.
City staff updated Monte Vista City Council on the wastewater treatment plant replacement effort, reporting a substantial rise in project cost estimates and ongoing permitting delays with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).
Permitting and cost changes Staff said CDPHE has acknowledged communication problems with the city and is behind on permit processing; the delay is slowing progress on issuing the construction permit. On project cost, staff said the estimated cost the city had been using for planning was $30,000,000, but the engineer’s estimated bid came in at about $48,000,000. City staff and engineers are working to reduce the scope and costs and reported they have driven the estimate down to roughly $42,000,000 so far.
Options to reduce cost Staff described several possible cost reductions under consideration: delaying or removing the engineered biosolids processing building (allowing longer-term drying and staged land application), reducing the design scope for some buildings by using portions of the existing lab, and eliminating nonessential elements that do not compromise core treatment performance. Staff estimated phasing biosolids handling could save roughly $9,000,000, but noted that land-application of biosolids requires testing and could extend over several years as lagoons dry.
Funding and next steps City staff said they are working with the USDA Rural Development and other potential grant sources to close the funding gap. Staff emphasized their intent to preserve essential treatment functions while trimming costs and to return to council with a revised project scope and financing plan.
