Western Corridor Pipeline:
At their April 20th monthly meeting, the Beaver Water District (BWD) Board of Directors approved the contract with Thalle Construction for the Western Corridor Pipeline. The contract price is $66.8 million for construction of the 60-inch diameter pipeline that will carry treated water 40,000 feet westward to the planned Western Corridor Pump Station. The Notice to Proceed is expected to be in May, with a planned completion date at the end of 2025. Olsson, who designed the pipeline, will be providing construction-phase engineering and observation services.
Western Corridor Pump Station:
At the April meeting, the BWD Board of Directors also approved an amendment to the Western Corridor Pump Station contract with our construction manager, Crossland Heavy Contractors, which authorizes them to move forward with construction at a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) of $38.37 million. The pump station will initially house three pumps each for Springdale and Fayetteville, with the ability to add one additional pump for those cities and four future pumps each for Bentonville and Rogers. The completion date for the pump station is also the end of 2025. Black & Veatch designed the pump station and will be providing the construction-phase engineering and observation services.
BWD Solar Park I:
The district is working with legal counsel and NextEra on finalizing contracts for our planned 5-MW Solar Park I project and anticipate requesting board execution of the contracts at the May meeting. Design and permitting is planned for the remainder of 2023, with construction to be completed by December 31, 2024. The estimated cost of the project is approximately $10.5 million and is anticipated to supply 15 – 20% of BWD’s electricity, reducing annual electricity bills by over $700,000 per year.