To encourage water conservation and maintain long-term reliable drinking water for future generations, the state of California passed a law in 2004 that requires all water service connections in the state to be metered by 2025. The City of Sacramento decided to implement an Accelerated Water Meter Program (AWMP) to reduce installation time of 51,000 water meter to five years—saving the city money and creating a quicker drought response to its residents. Since most of the city’s water infrastructure is outdated, many of the installations will include additional improvements such as relocating backyard water main pipelines to the street or replacing older pipelines located within the street. Throughout the accelerated program, Woodard & Curran is part of a team providing design and program management services, including a comprehensive, best practices-based Accelerated Program Plan, and processes and procedures to manage the AWMP during program implementation.
PERMITTING AND EASEMENT MANAGEMENT
Woodard & Curran conducted a thorough review of all available easement and permitting information relevant to metering program to identify issues that may impact the construction of program improvements and ongoing operations and maintenance needs. The firm is developing an easements and encroachments assessment that will identify locations that will need additional reviews and create a methodology to verify encroachments and easement issues. The firm will combine the assessment results, identified locations, methodologies, and requirements to develop an easement and permitting plan for the program.
ALTERNATIVE DELIVERY METHODS
To streamline the process of procuring qualified contractors, Woodard & Curran evaluated alternative delivery methods for the design and delivery of the remaining meter installations. This involved comparing each delivery method against the traditional design-bid-build approach and providing the City with clear direction based on schedule, cost, quality, and risk. The firm will assist in developing draft scope of services for each identified work package planned to be issued during the first year of implementation and a staffing analysis of the City’s resources, organization, and roles/responsibilities for the program to determine gaps and potential needs for staff augmentation through project development and implementation, as well as ongoing water meter program support. Woodard & Curran is also developing a multifaceted outreach program to build support and communicate activities relevant to the residents being affected by the work.
The firm is also assisting with the preparation of a grant application to support securing a State Revolving Fund loan. Project construction began in May 2017 and will finish in December 2020.
