USDA requests city water filtration project be less than $5 million
NORWICH – Five years after concept designs for a new water filtration plant were presented to the city council to replace the city’s outdated water filtration facility, financial hurdles have presented new challenges in moving forward with the project.
The latest obstacle to be overcome by the city: A request from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development for the city to lower the total cost of the water filtration project to $5 million. This led to some drastic modifications to the proposed plant design, which began as an estimated $9.4 million project.
As it was, the project, which will be paid mostly by grant reimbursements from the USDA-RD, was more than the USDA would fund, explained Superintendent of Public Works Carl Ivarson. Since funding was cut to the federal organization this year, it can only reimburse the city so much, he said.
“The USDA is very interested in helping this project go forward,” he added. “We are continuing to look at reducing the expense of the project yet maintain the plant’s full capacity.”
In an effort to meet USDA-RD funding requirements, Ivarson, along with Mayor Joseph Maiurano and Finance Director Bill Roberts, met with engineers earlier this month to discuss ways of reducing the cost of the plant while still retaining the mandated 1.9 million gallons of water at the plant per day. Similar discussions were had in October, when city officials and engineers made project revisions that cut costs by nearly $3 million.
“It’s something we want to see done in the next couple of years,” stated the mayor. “It needs to be done ... The costs year by year just keep going up.”
Proposed alterations to the plant include the elimination of a central heating system, reducing the building size from 5,000 square feet to 3,900, utilizing a pre-engineered building in lieu of a masonry building, and eliminating the replacement of a new water storage tank on Wheeler Ave.
Not including the Wheeler Avenue storage tank as part of the project lowers the cost by roughly $1.3 million. The tank still needs to be replaced, but can be funded as a new project with different potential grant funding further down the road, Ivarson said.
Changes in USDA-RD funding could again present setbacks in the future as the federal budget runs from October to September. If the USDA-RD were to change funding requirements again, the city would need to adapt, but additional cuts are not of much concern.
“It’s not just a Norwich problem,” Maiurano said, referring to deteriorating water lines and the outdated filtration plant currently used. “There are infrastructure problems all over the U.S. ... We’re lucky to have senators and congressmen that have been helpful to us in this process.”
Presently, the city is organizing finances to pay for the project, which would be reimbursed by the USDA at a later date. Ivarson and Maiurano said they are optimistic that the cost of the total project may be further reduced as they continue discussions with engineers. The city plans to put the project out for bid when finances are in order.
The latest obstacle to be overcome by the city: A request from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development for the city to lower the total cost of the water filtration project to $5 million. This led to some drastic modifications to the proposed plant design, which began as an estimated $9.4 million project.
As it was, the project, which will be paid mostly by grant reimbursements from the USDA-RD, was more than the USDA would fund, explained Superintendent of Public Works Carl Ivarson. Since funding was cut to the federal organization this year, it can only reimburse the city so much, he said.
“The USDA is very interested in helping this project go forward,” he added. “We are continuing to look at reducing the expense of the project yet maintain the plant’s full capacity.”
In an effort to meet USDA-RD funding requirements, Ivarson, along with Mayor Joseph Maiurano and Finance Director Bill Roberts, met with engineers earlier this month to discuss ways of reducing the cost of the plant while still retaining the mandated 1.9 million gallons of water at the plant per day. Similar discussions were had in October, when city officials and engineers made project revisions that cut costs by nearly $3 million.
“It’s something we want to see done in the next couple of years,” stated the mayor. “It needs to be done ... The costs year by year just keep going up.”
Proposed alterations to the plant include the elimination of a central heating system, reducing the building size from 5,000 square feet to 3,900, utilizing a pre-engineered building in lieu of a masonry building, and eliminating the replacement of a new water storage tank on Wheeler Ave.
Not including the Wheeler Avenue storage tank as part of the project lowers the cost by roughly $1.3 million. The tank still needs to be replaced, but can be funded as a new project with different potential grant funding further down the road, Ivarson said.
Changes in USDA-RD funding could again present setbacks in the future as the federal budget runs from October to September. If the USDA-RD were to change funding requirements again, the city would need to adapt, but additional cuts are not of much concern.
“It’s not just a Norwich problem,” Maiurano said, referring to deteriorating water lines and the outdated filtration plant currently used. “There are infrastructure problems all over the U.S. ... We’re lucky to have senators and congressmen that have been helpful to us in this process.”
Presently, the city is organizing finances to pay for the project, which would be reimbursed by the USDA at a later date. Ivarson and Maiurano said they are optimistic that the cost of the total project may be further reduced as they continue discussions with engineers. The city plans to put the project out for bid when finances are in order.
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