Bayfield's planned sewer line repairs have hit a snag - a lack of qualified contractors interested in doing the work.
Town Manager Chris La May reported on the problem Tuesday night to town trustees. The repairs are intended to eliminate groundwater infiltration that pushes the sewer treatment plant towards its daily permitted capacity, especially during irrigation season.
The town recently solicited bids for two separate projects - one to slip-line some existing sewer lines and grout the connections where individual service lines come into the main line, and one to replace some sections of main line.
There were no contractor bids for the replacement project, La May said. He is advertising that again. Four prospective bidders attended a pre-bid meeting Monday, he said.
The slip-lining project drew one bid for $528,000, he said. The grouting would bring the cost up to around $800,000. Where service lines tie into the main line seems to be where a lot of infiltration is happening, La May said.
The thought is to re-bid that project in the fall, he said.
The town has a $600,000 low-interest loan from the Colorado Water and Power Resource Development Authority, and a $300,000 grant from the State Department of Local Affairs for the sewer line projects.
In his staff report, La May said the slip-line/ grout work was budgeted at $600,000, and the line replacement was budgeted at $300,000.
Three Front Range contractors attended the pre-bid meeting on May 12 for the slip-lining and grout work and expressed concerns about the timing of the contract and about the grout work. Only one contractor submitted a bid.
"It is our understanding that the contractors are busy enough with projects on the Front Range that the job in Southwestern Colorado was not attractive enough for them to prepare bids," La May said.
Four contractors attended the pre-bid meeting for the line replacement project, but none of them submitted bids, La May said. It has been re-advertised in a condensed version, with the pre-bid meeting on June 2 and bid opening on June 11. La May was expecting a local contractor to bid. He hopes to have a bid award recommendation for the board's June 17 meeting.
The $7.68 million sewage treatment plant started operation in September 2009, replacing sewage lagoons that had ongoing problems with state permit violations.
Permitted capacity for the new plant is 600,000 gallons per day. If the amount of sewage hits 80 percent of capacity, the town is supposed to start planning to expand capacity.
Even before the new plant was built, the town spent a lot of money finding and eliminating infiltration, a deferred maintenance item from the separate Bayfield Sanitation District that was dissolved in 2007.
The town started operating the system on contract with the district in 2006 after the state issued a cease and desist order because of sewage discharge permit violations. The cease and desist order blocked the town from issuing building permits for anything that would affect the sewer system.
In February 2007, the town board voted to take over the district as soon as possible because of permit violations, and to start the process to dissolve the sanitation district. They worried about another cease and desist order from the state. Voters approved dissolution in November 2007.
Construction on the new treatment plant started in July 2008. As it neared completion in July 2009, then-Town Manager Justin Clifton reported to trustees that summer infiltration was pushing system flow to around 430,000 gallons per day, versus around 250,000 gpd in winter months.
"This problem needs to be addressed as soon as possible, as it's using up a large portion of the new plant's capacity," Clifton told trustees back then. "You can almost see (the increase) the day the (irrigation) ditches come on."
Trustees agreed in February 2013 to take a loan of up to $600,000 from the Colorado Water and Power Development Authority for infiltration repairs, to be paid solely with sewer revenues.
