The City of Pearland Reflection Bay Water Reclamation Facility Expansion project was recognized by Engineering News-Record (ENR), the leading construction and engineering publication in the US, with an Award of merit on the Water/Wastewater category of its Regional Best Projects Contest. The industry awards ceremony was held in Houston last October.
This PLW Waterworks project was critical to the City of Pearland, as it was faced with limited capacity due to its exponential growth and aging infrastructure. The project consisted of wastewater treatment expansion from two million gallons per day (MGD) to six million, that commenced on the heels of an Emergency Package Plant Expansion just one year prior.
The PLW team performed structural and process mechanical modifications to an existing Lift Station with new pumps and baffles, structural upgrades of existing Sequence Batch Reactor (SBR) Basins with all new process equipment including diffusers, air piping and valves and a new basin structure to increase capacity. They also installed numerous equipment and piping and worked on civil modifications, architectural and building construction elements and demolition of existing facilities.
The project’s main challenges included an aggressive milestone sequence and duration, American Iron and Steel (AIS) requirements, maintaining existing plant operations during construction and withstanding Hurricane Harvey. Despite the aggressive milestones, each portion of the project was delivered ahead of schedule. The team resolved this challenge by establishing a “project-first” culture between all stakeholders. A great example of teamwork was the coordinated efforts to ensure maintenance of plant operations during construction.
During the peak of construction, PLW and the City worked together to protect the jobsite from Hurricane Harvey. Despite catastrophic flooding in Pearland, the project suffered minimal impact. Whether countless hours of pumping water and sandbagging to protect the equipment and plant itself, this teamwork ensured uninterrupted operations to serve the community.
The Pearland project was also very innovative because it was awarded via Competitive Sealed Proposal (CSP), which is a values-based selection where Owners choose a Contractor based upon a published set of metrics with regards to price and technical capability. This project also included numerous process equipment solicitations that were pre-negotiated, and therefore saved the City time and money with regards to its completion.
“This project was instrumental to winning additional work with the City of Pearland recently. Building relationships and running the project, the Webber Way gave us the opportunity to bid and win more work with one of the fastest growing communities in Texas. This award is another feather in the team’s cap for a job well done.”
