The Cottage Grove City Council approved the construction of a new water treatment plant at the Aug. 2 regular meeting. The plant will be located on the northeast corner of 110 th Street South and …
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The Cottage Grove City Council approved the construction of a new water treatment plant at the Aug. 2 regular meeting. The plant will be located on the northeast corner of 110th Street South and Ideal Avenue South. Designed to treat the existing Well #10 and create a future Well #13, the new plant will service the city’s “low-pressure zone” and work to remove PFAS contaminants from the city’s water. The project will be primarily funded by 3M’s 2018 settlement agreement with the city.
Lee Mann, Principal Engineer at Stantec, the engineering firm consulting on the project with Cottage Grove, presented the bid options and the firm’s recommendation to the council. He stated that the construction bids were officially received on July 13. Both the bids surpassed the engineer’s initial estimate of $32.5 million by approximately $6 million.
Rice Lake Construction Group, a Deerwood, Minn.-based company specializing in industrial and wastewater installations, came in with the winning bid of $38,182,800. The next lowest bid was offered by Market & Johnson at $38,717.563. On top of the construction cost, the project will also include an upgrade to the city’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) remote site system, which is computing infrastructure that controls equipment and conditions in real-time throughout the city. SCADA helps monitor and control efficiency within the city’s infrastructure, and the upgrade is expected to bolster the city’s ability to control critical functions for residents and provided services.
With Rice Lake Construction Group’s construction bid and the SCADA upgrades combined, the total cost of the project is $39,078,155. Of that amount, $37,408 782 will be paid by the 3M settlement agreement funds. Cottage Grove will be responsible for $774,017, paid from the city’s Area/Utility Funds, as well as the SCADA upgrade costs of $895,355.
“The 3M settlement-funded construction grant for this project was finally executed in the amount of $42,127,00, which includes construction, engineering, and other miscellaneous costs, so that’s all set to go,” said Mann.
Asked by Mayor Myron Bailey to explain the purpose of the SCADA upgrades, Mann said, “Basically, that’s the system that helps the city run all of the wells. In this case, the treatment plant will also be on the SCADA system, towers, lift stations, and booster stations. That’s the computer system that gives the alarms and in some cases controls when those facilities get turned on and off.”
Bailey clarified, adding, “The system we have currently is an older system, so we’re basically upgrading everything.”
“Correct,”, said Mann. “And the new system will be a big step forward into meeting the state and federal cybersecurity standards and requirements.”
Councilmember Justin Olsen moved to adopt the resolution for the bid award to Rice Lake Construction Group, and it was seconded by Councilmember Tony Khambata. The vote was 5-0, unanimous approval by the city council.
