2012 2:00:00 PM

Monday, December 10, 2012 2:00 PM
Sparks Legislative Building, 745 E. 4th Street, Sparks, NV 89431

Consent Items: 5.4

Title: Consideration and possible approval of reimbursement to the City of Reno in the amount of up to $101,889.14 for Sparks’ share of an agreement with Carollo Engineers for the engineering design services associated with the Digesters- Gas System Upgrades Project at the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility.

Petitioner/Presenter: Neil C. Krutz, P.E. – Deputy City Manager/Kim Laber – Acting Plant Manager/ Todd Saxberg – Operations Manager

Recommendation: Staff recommends City Council approve of reimbursement to the City of Reno in the amount of up to $101,889.14 for Sparks’ share of an agreement with Carollo Engineers for the engineering design services associated with the Digesters- Gas System Upgrades Project.

Financial Impact: There is no impact to the General Fund. $1,928,541.00 of appropriations remains in the 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the City of Sparks under TMWRF Projects, CIP 136600, in Fund 1631, Sanitary Sewer Capital Project Fund. The actual construction component includes equipment and a building with related elements. A $984,000.00 grant from DOE/NETL for Renewable Energy has been secured equipment as part of the construction portion. The total project budget, over two-years is estimated at $3,284,000.00.

Total Costs: $101,889.14

Fund: Sanitary Sewer Cap Proj Fund Account: 604090
Program: TMWRF Digesters- Gas System Upgrades Project (13-6600E)
Amount: $101,889.14 Budget Status: Budget Exists

Business Impact (Per NRS 237):
A Business Impact Statement is not required because this is not a rule.

Agenda Item Brief: This matter is scheduled to go before the Reno City Council on December 12, 2012 for approval to enter into a professional engineering services contract with Carollo Engineers for design of a Gas Conditioning system for TMWRF. Under the capital projects cost sharing agreement with Reno, Sparks will reimburse Reno based on the current ownership, 68.63% Reno and 31.37% Sparks.

Background: The Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility (TMWRF) is a regional wastewater treatment utility. The anaerobic digestion process produces a considerable amount of beneficially reusable methane gas, or biogas. This gas, besides what is used for internal heating is flared off and the value is unclaimed. Biogas flared to atmosphere has certain emissions issues that conditioned biogas would not. Only by proper conditioning of the gas generated at TMWRF can we begin mitigation of our air quality emissions. This conditioned gas can then serve the added benefit of providing a usable biogas for future renewable energy applications. Conditioning the biogas produced at TMWRF is the first step in achieving all of the aforementioned goals related to air quality and renewable energy generation.

Analysis: Staff has identified a need to contract with outside sources to perform design work on the gas conditioning system. It is recommended that TMWRF proceed with the installation of a new digester gas conditioning system based on H2S removal via media vessels sized to utilize either iron sponge or Sulfa-Treat media to treat up to 900 scfm, followed by refrigeration, and carbon adsorption Siloxane removal systems to treat up to 625 scfm of combined digester gas. Equipment costs are estimated to be between $1.1 and 1.3 million. The resulting construction estimate is approximately $2.76 million for the project. The request before the council today is in addition to the aforementioned construction costs and provides for the design of the system currently being analyzed for TMWRF.

Alternatives: City Council could direct staff to provide other alternatives.

Recommended Motion: I move to approve reimbursement to the City of Reno for Sparks’ share of the engineering design services associated with the Digesters- Gas System Upgrades Project, in an amount not to exceed $101,889.14.

Attached Files:

Table 1.pdf

Carollo Digester Gas Treatment Predesign 2012.pdf

Digester Gas Treatment Final Design-2012-11-05.pdf

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