Bowles Construction to complete Spring Creek wastewater project

On Monday, the City Council approved funding to complete the Spring Creek wastewater project after rising materials costs stopped the upgrade of the main trunk line a block short of its goal.

Bowles Construction Co. of Wichita Falls had completed most of the project when pandemic-driven supply and cost issues overran the Community Development Block Grant budget of $284,724, Interim City Administrator Arpegea Pagsuberon said.

“Supply chain was a big part of it. We couldn’t get the 10-inch PVC pipe. The cost of pipe had gone up 66 percent,” Pagsuberon said.

The appropriation of $91,561 to finish the project comes from a surcharge on water and wastewater the city has collected since 2019, and that totaled $209,350.96 before Monday’s appropriation, Pagsuberon said.

The additional spending does not require a new request for (RFP) proposal because it is an addendum to an existing project, City Attorney Bill Myers said.

The Spring Creek project diverted wastewater from about 2,000 feet of deteriorating clay pipe along East Spring Creek Road and South Avenue C to a new mainline of PVC pipe, KC Blassingame, public works director, said.

“There was so much infiltration on that line, every time it rained; it flooded the sewer system,” Blassingame said. “We didn’t dig up the old one and replace it. We scooted it over in the ditch to get it out of the highway. That way, if we ever have to work on it, we don’t have to dig up the highway.”

Blassingame said the project would require a short street closure on South Avenue G and West Spring Creek Road to install a manhole cover. The city has not yet scheduled resumption of the project with Bowles Construction, he said Wednesday.