ASHLAND — The remaining upgrade work to be done at the Ashland Area Municipal Authority reservoir will resume in May to finish the project that began in 2015.
At Monday’s meeting, the water authority board heard the monthly report from Alfred Benesch & Co. project manager Jennifer M. Kowalonek that included information on the reservoir project and plans for replacing two aging water mains in the borough.
“We got the word today that the underwater work will begin on or about May 1,” Kowalonek said, referring to the need to replace valves in the reservoir that requires a diving operation.
Since the valve work won’t begin until May and putting it beyond the 365-day contract time, Kowalonek said the general contractor, KC Construction Co., Ivyland, has submitted a change order to allow a time extension of 98 days.
“That would move the substantial completion date to June 17,” Kowalonek said, with the deadline for final completion on July 2. “This is due to the availability of the diving subcontractor. Back in the fall, the water level was lower so it was impossible for the crane to put the valves in the water. The dam is at full capacity now, but we were waiting for the freezing to stop.”
Some preparation work has been in anticipation of the valve project.
“Upon completion of upstream closures, the downstream valve replacements can be completed by KC Construction,” she said. “In preparation for the downstream work, KC Construction performed exploratory work inside the valve house, but did not have to do any digging as was anticipated after last month’s meeting, so the cost will be lower than anticipated. The existing reducers embedded in the wall will remain and all proposed work will be performed in the valve house. We await the price proposal.”
The board approved the request from the contractor for the time extension.
Benesch will investigate the cause of a seep of water through the dam breast and has been reporting to the state Department of Environmental Protection with the readings.
“We have been monitoring the piezometers on a weekly basis and submitting to DEP due to the seep that was discovered during construction,” Kowalonek said. “We think that the seep has presented itself on the embankment and Benesch is currently monitoring the area. We are now going out there every other day just to monitor and make sure it is not growing or changing. It hadn’t presented itself until about a week and a half or two weeks ago.”
Kowalonek added, “We are also recording the weir flow and piezometer date, which have had no changes. The contractor will be video inspecting the drainage system that was installed to determine if it is operating and constructed as designed. DEP, Schnable Engineering and Benesch plan to meet on site April 7 to investigate and discuss a plan of action for addressing the seep.”
Kowalonek said KC will use a video camera to record the drain lines that were installed to make sure that everything was put in properly and constructed as designed.
“If everything is in place as designed, we may need to add another drain line. We’re still under contract and will be using the contract prices, it would be under $20,000,” she said. “Hopefully, it will be handled by next meeting.”
Kowalonek said there will be some cost savings with replacing the valves on the downstream side of the dam with using a 16-inch and a 12-inch valve instead of 20-inch and 14-inch valves, reducing the cost from about $100,000 to less than $70,000.
The change order submitted by KC to extend the contract time was approved 5-0.
In other business, Kowalonek said the survey has been completed on East Centre Street (near Groody’s Catering Hall) and on Middle Street between Eighth and 10th streets, and the right-of-way information was received from the state Department of Transportation on Monday.
“We have all the information to begin the design and permitting process,” Kowalonek said.
The two water lines have been showing their age with repeated breaks, especially the water main along state Route 54 near Groody’s. At AAMA’s February meeting, Benesch senior designer Natalie O’Connor said the line near Groody’s is 810 feet and has an estimated construction cost of $91,000, plus $10,900 for design. The Middle Street construction cost is estimated at about $50,000, with another $4,500 for design.
The board approved at the February meeting the cost of the survey for both locations at $5,600, and also approved $4,200 to begin the permitting process for the East Centre Street location. The $4,200 is a portion of the total cost of $10,900.
Kowalonek said Benesch was requesting an additional $6,700 to complete all of the East Center Street design.
Board members questioned the additional cost, with Kowalonek explaining, “The $4,200 was to get us started on the process. The proposal we gave last month, $5,800 for surveying, $10,900 for the engineering and the permitting of East Centre Street. If you add those numbers together, you get $16,700. We need to do a final design in order to get our permitting because we need to show PennDOT exactly what we’re doing.”
Kowalonek explained that while the surveys were done at both locations in order to take advantage of having the survey crew in Ashland do all the work at one time, the Middle Street design will wait.
“We’re going to hold off on the Middle Street design until after the dam project is done,” Kowalonek said. “You have the survey available, and if at that time you want to move forward with Middle Street and the money is available, then we’ll make the recommendation for the design.”
The board approved completing the Centre Street design work by authorizing the $6,700.