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Wastewater Facilities Planning, Design, and Construction Oversight

Provincetown, Massachusetts

Overview

For more than ten years, Environmental Partners has been working with Town officials to address their ongoing wastewater collection, treatment and disposal needs through a privatized Design/Build/Operate (DBO) approach for a long-term comprehensive wastewater management plan.  Environmental Partners managed all aspects of the DBO project for the town, including the preliminary design, DBO vendor selection, full time oversight and vendor coordination.  Construction of Phase 1 of the project ($16M) consisted of the installation of the core sewer collection system and of the sequencing batch reactor treatment plant, all of which was completed in 2003.  Subsequent phases ( Phase 2 - $6.4M and Phase 3 - $10 M) were completed by 2012 and consisted of expansion of the sewer service area.  Environmental Partners developed the preliminary design of the SBR treatment plant and sewer service area that was used as the basis for the DBO procurement, managed the Request for Proposal process on behalf of the Town, and has provided construction oversight support on each project phase.  

Summary of Scope

Environmental Partners was retained to assist Provincetown in advancing a stalled wastewater facilities planning project.  Our approach was to bring fresh ideas and new initiative to solving thorny cost and site selection issues related to wastewater collection, treatment and disposal facilities.  Hundreds of failing septic systems along the full length of Commercial Street's waterfront posed imminent danger to the business district and tourist industry.  Title V remedial costs were unaffordable for most, and in many cases Tile V compliance was impossible due to lot size and high water tables.  One of Environmental Partners key accomplishments was to guide the Town through the privatization process for the entire project, thereby reducing costs, shrinking schedules and simplifying project implementation.

Working closely with Town staff, elected officials, regional (Cape Cod Commission) and state (DEP/MEPA) agencies, Environmental Partners spearheaded a new evaluation of treatment and disposal sites that led to a cost-effective and environmentally acceptable plan.  We worked with the Town to site the advanced wastewater treatment plant on an old burn dump off Route 6, with decentralized effluent infiltration beds beneath open portions of the Route 6 Right of Way. Extensive groundwater modeling was done to permit and properly design the beds.

Environmental Partners supported the Town in securing a complex DEP Groundwater Discharge Permit for its wastewater disposal beds along Route 6.   An innovative approach for effluent disposal that utilized areas of a highway median strip was selected as the location of several effluent beds was proposed, and was complicated by the presence of rare and endangered species, wetland resource areas and ponds in the immediate vicinity of these effluent beds.  To further complicate the permit, the concerned parties included the Cape Cod National Seashore, an abutter to this highway and these effluent beds.

Environmental Partners performed detailed groundwater modeling that defined the extent of groundwater mounding and the effluent travel direction and timeframes resulting from these wastewater discharges, and in spite of the many concerns raised by local, regional and state permitting authorities, the Discharge Permit was issued expeditiously and with only minor conditions.  As part of this effort, Environmental Partners led the Town through the Cape Cod Commission's DRI and MEPA's EIR permitting process.

Environmental Partners also developed and managed the privatization effort by which the $19 Million facilities will be constructed and operated for twenty years.  The following tasks were included:

• Preparation of a Request for Expressions of Interest, and Development of preliminary designs and a detailed Request for Proposals.
• Preparation of contract documents and financial terms and conditions, including options for the Town to use state/federal loans, or acquire financing from the selected Vendor.
• Proposal review and Vendor selection.
• Coordination with Town legal counsel.
• Oversight of final design and permitting process.
• Support during contract negotiations with the selected Vendor.
• Full oversight of vendor construction and start-up activities.
• Detailed review of plans and specifications and preparation of a comprehensive (15+ page) summary of review comments.
• Resolution of design review comments with the D/B/O designer (AECOM)
• Oversight of construction and review of all payment requisitions and change orders.
• Coordination with Town Legal Counsel and Finance Department
• Preparation of state reimbursement requests through the DEP SRF program and USDA.
• Preparation of a unique grant application to the US Department of Agriculture, Rural Development Office, to fund a portion of the project serving the Cape End Manor expanded nursing home.
• Preparation of opinions regarding the reasonableness of unit prices for base contract and change order work.

Environmental Partners has protected the town's interests throughout the entire process. We have been very successful at pursuing and obtaining state and federal grants and loans for Provincetown as well.  We recently assisted the town in obtaining several million dollars in grants from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for subsequent phases of expansion of the collection system.