“This project will replace deteriorating 1950′s-era cast iron piping, ultimately providing more reliable water service to city utility customers,” said Fairfield Public Utilities Director Adam Sackenheim.
The water main project was identified as a priority in the city’s Water Quality and Criticality Analysis report due to the frequency of main breaks, which caused service interruptions to nearby water customers, he said. Over the past decade, there have been about 25 main breaks, according to the city.
“We actually changed a portion of this area to a different lower pressure zone to try to reduce the frequency of breaks,” said Sackenheim. “It worked somewhat but limited how we move water across the city from west to east.”
He said the project will allow the city to establish the water pressure in the whole zone, “which will give us a second critical artery in our distribution system to pump water west to east.”
There were 11 companies bidding for the contract, with J.W. Brennan Excavating coming in as the “lowest and best” bidder. The engineering estimate for the project was $1.19 million. Two of the bids were over the engineer’s estimate, and only two were under $1 million.
J.W. Brennan’s winning bid was $949,300, but the city allocated $997,000 to include contingency funds for potential overages.
The project is expected to wrap up by the end of May, ahead of the planned re-paving of Resor Road later this summer.
“I know everybody along Resor Road is looking forward to new asphalt at the end of the summer,” said Councilman Terry Senger, council’s public utilities committee chairman.
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