Work to Abandon Sewer Treatment Plants to Meet Great Lakes Obligations in Final Year
On Monday, July 19, the Pleasant Prairie Village Board considered and approved items related to the abandonment of the Pleasant Prairie sewer treatment plant "Sewer D." The Board approved a Final Resolution authorizing the construction sanitary sewer to bypass the plant and a related special assessment to be paid by benefited property owners at the time that they choose to improve their property. Also approved were an Award of Contract for the construction work and a Professional Construction Engineering Services Agreement.
The abandonment of the Pleasant Prairie's sewer treatment plants is in alignment with a historic water agreement that secured Great Lakes Water for the western half of the Village. The western half of Pleasant Prairie lies outside of the Great Lakes Basin, and water treated by Village treatment plants was returned to the Des Plaines River as opposed to Lake Michigan. In return for radium free water from Lake Michigan for the western half of the Village, Pleasant Prairie agreed to abandon its sewer treatment plants by the last day of 2010 and direct all wastewater to the City of Kenosha for treatment and return to Lake Michigan.
In order to construct the project, it was necessary for the Village to acquire two pieces of land to accommodate the lowest geographical placement of the gravity sewer main. Work has been planned as close to the border of the property as the geographic features of the land allow in order to accommodate the land's current use.
Construction of the sanitary sewer will be completed by A.W. Oakes & Son, Inc. of Racine, Wisconsin. Oakes submitted the lowest responsible bid for the work, including a base and alternate bid package. Though one contractor submitted a lower initial bid for the entire package, the contractor failed to acknowledge receipt of a critical addendum guaranteeing a fixed price for the work and proposed use of a subcontractor who is not prequalified to work in the Village.