Belgrade reviews PER recommending 3,000,000-gallon tank, new wells and booster station

Belgrade city officials on Thursday reviewed a preliminary engineering report from HDR that recommends a three-project approach to address an estimated central-pressure-zone storage deficit: two new groundwater wells (Well 7A and Well 10), a 3,000,000‑gallon ground storage tank and a booster station with roughly 7,500 feet of transmission piping.

Jared Moran, HDR project manager, told the council the PER is in draft and was submitted to city staff for review. HDR and staff chose a 4% growth-rate assumption to avoid undersizing critical infrastructure and said a 3,000,000‑gallon tank falls within a cost-per-gallon “sweet spot.” "Once we have all review comments incorporated, we'll transition into design," Moran said.

Camry Iulia, Belgrade's director of public works, and HDR described the storage calculation as DEQ's minimum requirement (average day demand plus fire flow) plus an additional 15% of max day demand as emergency storage to cover outages and other contingencies. HDR explained the city will combine physical tank storage with "equivalent storage" from wells (firm capacity of wells, less the largest well out of service, minus max day demand) to meet a planning horizon to 2045.

The PER identifies sequencing to shorten overall schedule: subcontractor work for well design beginning immediately, tank design starting in January with supplier bidding targeted by May, and construction planned for the 2027 season. HDR used an industry Class 4 cost estimate (accuracy roughly -30% to +50%) and staff said the combined probable cost for the three projects is about $21,000,000 including contingency.

Council members pressed HDR on operational concerns, including water age and stagnation in a large ground tank. Moran said a two-tank option originally produced water-age problems given estimated fill rates, which prompted the one-tank approach coupled with equivalent storage; he said the team modeled mixing approaches and would include operational optimization during final design. Iulia said the city is also pursuing a leak-detection program and a SCADA upgrade to improve operational data and reduce uncertainty about system demand.

HDR described booster-station design as four split-case horizontal centrifugal pumps (two medium, two small) to give redundancy; HDR said one medium pump could meet 2024 demands and two small pumps could operate in tandem if needed. Site planning places the tank and booster near Frontage Road and Bollinger Road, with coordination planned with Parks on aesthetics (wraps, murals) and a fenced, secured facility meeting security requirements.

No formal vote or action was taken at the workshop; staff said they will incorporate council comments into the final PER and continue through design and procurement milestones.