Sanitary sewer service within the City of Sparks is provided by a vast network of pipelines and pumping stations.  Approximately 350 miles of pipeline of increasing size collects and conveys sanitary sewer flows from individual residences and business, ultimately discharging to the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility (TMWRF).  As the City grows, sufficient capacity, within the correct pipelines, is crucial.  In 2004, the City contracted with Shaw Engineering to model the backbone of the sanitary sewer network.  This previous effort outlined numerous pipeline upgrades to accommodate future growth, many of which were implemented through the Vista-Prater Interceptor and Spanish Springs Interceptor projects.

Over the past decade, growth trends and sanitary sewer flow rates within the City of Sparks have changed.  Anticipated development of residential apartment projects could place additional capacity demands on areas of the City’s sanitary sewer infrastructure that have never been conceived before, especially in the urban core.  Additionally, while the population within the Truckee Meadows has grown, sanitary sewer flows to TMWRF have increased at a slower rate, most likely due to the use of low-flow fixtures within both new construction and remodels.

Recognizing that there was a need to re-analyze the City’s sewer system capacity, $200,000 was budgeted within the FY13 Capital Improvement Plan.  As the project scope was further developed, it became readily apparent that a more detailed analysis including smaller pipelines was required.  As such, an additional $250,000 was budgeted within the FY14 Capital Improvement Plan.  A Request for Proposals was issued in April of 2014.  Six consulting firms submitted proposals; after ranking by Community Services and TMWRF staff three firms were selected for further evaluation by interview.  Upon interviewing the three firms, Atkins was selected to perform the Sewer Model Update.

A scope of work has been negotiated with Atkins to include data collection, field verification of existing infrastructure, flow verification, model development, capital improvement project development, and report preparation.  The level of effort proposed includes analysis of small diameter mains within the urban core of the City to ascertain potential impacts from higher density redevelopment.  A 20-year outlook will be analyzed.

The services requested are commonly provided by Atkins.  Atkins is on the current Sparks on-call civil engineering list, and was selected through a request for proposal and interview process.  Updating the Sparks Sewer Model will allow City staff to determine potential infrastructure impacts from anticipated growth, current and future capacity, and future Capital Improvement needs.

1.            City Council could accept the Engineering Services contract as outlined by Staff.

2.            City Council could reject the Engineering Services contract and provide direction to the City Manager.

I move to award the contract (AC-5126) to provide Engineering Services for the Sparks Sewer Model Update with Atkins in the amount of $407,604.