Residents of South Cayucos will soon see increased water pressure after the County completes a job to upgrade a major water line.
Hartzell General Engineering, Inc., as the winning bidder for the Chaney Waterline Upgrade Project with an $189,000 bid.
The project will slide a new, larger water pipe through an existing casing that runs underneath Hwy 1 from the east side over to the Studio Drive neighborhood.
The old 4-inch line will be replaced with a 6-inch line, and the project will involve some excavation work on Ocean Boulevard, according to a report from County Water Utilities Division Manager, Nola Engelskirger, to the Cayucos Citizens Advisory Council.
“This project,” she said, “will improve water system’s resiliency and increase fire flow to Studio Drive, west of Highway 1.”
The work is scheduled to start at the end of June or start of July.
The overall budget for the job is listed as $563,000. After Hartzell’s bid, the County has also counted in $18,000 in contingencies in case there are change orders needed ($208,000 total for construction).
The rest is engineering and plan work, plus administrative duties, as the project required working with Caltrans on an encroachment permit. Also, the job is being done for County Services Area-10A (CSA-10A), the water system run by the County that serves the southern end of Cayucos and also operates the water treatment plant that serves the entire community.
That plant also provides drinking water to the two private water companies that also provide drinking water on the north end and Downtown and charge the fire hydrants in what is the main portion of town.
The CSA-10A budget specifically for this job had some $289,000 set aside and left $93,000 in the fund balance. With the costs now nearly doubled at $563,000 that left the County to do a little dance to cover the shortfall of $273,000.
That money is coming from the CSA-10A’s Water Fund Reserves, $70,000; and $203,000 out of the CSA-10 “Parent Fund Designated Reserves.”
Hartzell’s winning bid at $189,000 easily beat out the other two bidders: R. Burke Corp., at $263,000, and Spless (SIC) Const., Co., at $318,000.
County Engineering’s estimate was $211,000 so the winning bid came in 11% lower than anticipated.
The project start comes as the County is gearing up to raise water rates significantly for the CSA-10A’s 950 water customers (see related story).
The rate hike is expected to hit customers of the two private purveyors, as well, as the County’s costs to treat the water coming from Whale Rock Reservoir to drinking water standards and provide it to the other water companies, are partly to blame for the rate hike.
