ADMINISTRATION - Jon Haukaas, Director of Public Works
Title
APPROVE PURCHASE OF NEW PUMPS FROM ELECTRIC PUMP COMPANY FOR THE REPLACMENT OF LIFT STATION 21
Background
Lift Station 21 is located at West Lake Park and serves a large portion of the Lakes Development. In July 2017 the #1 pump failed when the intake bowl broke and drew the cables into the pump mechanism. The pump was repaired and returned to operation. This summer, pump #2 failed in the same manner. In addition, the intake bowl and guide rails also broke during the failure. It was determined that it could not be repaired in a similar simple manner but rather needed to be fully rebuilt include structural upgrades to the lift station itself. In the meantime, two temporary bypass pumps were installed to manage the flows.
Since this was a repeat failure, staff chose to further investigate the root cause of the problems. Reviewing the pumping records and pressure testing showed that the pumps were undersized causing excessive vibrations that damaged the pumps, guiderails, and structure.
On May 3, 2018 the City Council approved our last Lift Station upgrade project to the Electric Pump Company as the local distributor of the Flygt N style submersible pump. As you recall, this pump provides a combination of material cutting and clog free solids management we needed to ensure problem operation of our system. Council approved standardizing on this pump manufacturer for system efficiency.
For this issue, staff again worked with the Electric Pump Company to properly size new replacement pumps to rebuild Lift Station 21. The cost for the equipment, all appurtenances, and delivery amounts to $101,748.20.
To ensure continued system efficiency, staff believes this replacement should be completed as soon as possible. This expense was not anticipated when the 2018 Sanitary Sewer Budget was adopted, and thus no specific appropriation was made for this item. Finance staff reviewed this item and determined that adequate reserves are on hand in the Sewer fund to cover these costs and staff requests funding be appropriated from reserves to complete the project.
Recommendation
By motion, approve payment of $101,748.20 to the Electric Pump Co. for replacement pumps at Lift Station 21.