Needles approves $166,994 change order for Phase 5 water laterals to add isolation valves

The City of Needles authorized a change order to the Phase 5 water service laterals project to add four large inserter valves to allow isolation of the Vista area in the event of a main break.

City management explained that the existing valve network cannot isolate certain neighborhoods and that, during prior work, valves repeatedly failed when crews attempted to shut them off. "As a result of that, we inserted 4 new inserter valves," staff told the council and presented a change order amount of $166,994, which brings the total contract to $555,009.33. Staff said the work will be paid from the asset replacement fund.

Council members asked for clarity about why the cost was needed and whether the funds were available; staff responded the replacement is a reliability investment and the asset fund covers the cost. The council moved, seconded, and recorded a unanimous roll‑call vote to approve the change order.

What it means: Installing isolation valves can reduce the scope and duration of outages by allowing crews to isolate a limited area instead of shutting down larger sections of the system. The council recorded support for the expenditure and asked staff to ensure larger expenditures are placed on the regular agenda for public transparency.

Next steps: Staff will execute the change order and proceed with valve installation under the Phase 5 construction contract.