City Council Asked to Dig Deeper Into Coffers to Pay for Replacement Pipeline

Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) is seeking the City Council’s approval for an increase of $920,000 for the installation of a 24-inch water transmission mainline along Orange Grove Blvd., known officially as the Orange Grove Pipeline Project.

The increase is necessary, PWP said, because the contractor had to dig deeper and install additional hardware after discovering unmapped utilities under the paved roadway which were not in the original as-built drawings provided by the City.

Contractor Downing Construction found unmapped water, electricity and gas lines, according to a city report obtained by Pasadena Now.

The new mainline, about 2.3-miles long, will serve as the transmission conduit for drinking water between the two largest City reservoirs – Sunset Reservoir on the west and Jones Reservoir on the east. It will also functionally replace the existing 36-inch diameter steel transmission main in Mountain Street installed in 1934 to convey water from Morris Reservoir to the Sunset Reservoir.

“This much-needed project will update the current pipes which are over 80 years old, and increase the overall reliability and quality of water service for our customers,” PWP said in an earlier statement.

PWP will present the recommendation to the City Council on Monday increasing the contract amount with Downing Construction Inc., which is currently working on the project, from $4,464,816 to $5,384,816, or an increase of $920,000.

In an Agenda Report for the City Council, PWP General Manager Gurcharan Bawa said the additional contract amount would address unexpected costs associated the extra work.

During construction, Downing Construction personnel also found that as-built records and drawings were not accurate on many buried utility location depths below the roadway surface.

This, in addition to the previously undiscovered abandoned utilities, required the contractor to lower the original design depth by about three to five more feet. In some situations, the transmission main is being installed 15 to 17 feet below street grade to avoid existing utilities.

Downing Construction also had to install new appurtenances, such as air release valves, that were not included in the original bid specifications, the report showed.

PWP is also seeking the City Council’s authority to no longer require a new public bidding for the additional work and added hardware installations, since a new bidding could derail what the current contractor had already started.

“Downing has the heavy machinery and personnel at the site needed to provide these services immediately, which also provide for cost-efficiency, as compared to bringing in another contractor. As a result, the project will be completed on schedule,” PWP said in the agenda report.

Work on the Orange Grove Project began around July 2019 and is expected to be completed by March.

After the project is complete, Orange Grove Boulevard will be repaved and restriped by the Department of Public Works to the original configuration.