Amador County – The Plymouth City Council at its last meeting decided to reject three bids, and re-advertise a well-drilling job, at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. After finding the bids seemingly incomplete, Interim City Manager Jeff Gardner said council members had some issues with the bids, and they agreed to reject them, and place more ads to get a new round of bids.
Public Works Director Selby Beck had recommended the apparent low bid of $10,642 by Hunt Well Drilling on the project, which said the city would be “providing the trenching, backfill, electrical and water line to the panel and tank.”
Gardner said City Hall received three bids, and he “chose the one that looked the most complete.” The well will be used to supplement the wastewater treatment plant on property on Old Sacramento Road. It would supplement a headwater that feeds the new plant, but was found to have flow insufficient to run the plant.
Part of the issue is filling a new 10,000-gallon water tank. The tank is new to the system, which Gardner said is functioning, and gives the city a little bit more capacity. Expansion of the plant is not complete, as Development Director Richard Prima is working with the Regional Water Quality Control Board on trying to get the city’s discharge permit upgraded. The plant is still a secondary-level treating facility, with land application on 200 acres of land.
Gardner said power costs have gone up, and he is looking into solar power for the sewer plant. He has looked at solar applications, and talked to some people about it.
He said the Amador County Fair runs a 35-megawatt solar application on the fairgrounds, and he was told by Pacific Gas & Electric that the city sewer plant would need a solar power application of about the same power output to operate. He planned to talk to Amador County Fair CEO Troy Bowers about the fair’s facility.
Gardner said if they can produce that kind of power on some of the 200 acres at the plant facility, they can “zero out” the cost of energy, which is about 15 percent of the overall cost for the sewer plant’s operation.
Gardner also reported that a water main has been permanently repaired, after it was temporarily repaired Jan. 7. The break affected about one-third of the town, so the city made an appointment to schedule a more permanent repair, at a time when it would least affect customers. The final repair was made a week later.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
