Purrysburg Water Treatment Plant

Owner and Contractor Expedited $29 Million Project to Meet Needs of New Power Plant

by Debra Wood

Contractors, engineers and an owner motivated to deliver water on time to a new electrical generating plant have worked together to bring in ahead of schedule the fast-tracked Purrysburg Water Treatment Plant project in South Carolina.

“We took a strong teamwork approach,” said Jennifer Barrington, special projects manager for owner Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority of South Carolina. “Keeping the communication open has been a major contributor to how well everything is going.”

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Construction on the $29 million project began in April 2002, and the Pizzagalli Construction Co. of South Burlington, Vt., is on target to finish the project by the contract date of April 2004. The project is in Beaufort County, which Barrington said is the state’s fastest-growing county.

BJWSA initially planned a design-build project, which developed into an expedited fast-track contract when South Carolina Electric & Gas decided to build a generating plant on adjacent property.

“The water authority in the past has generally done a straight design-bid-build,” Barrington said. “We took a little more innovative approach on this one and we’ve been able to shorten the schedule a good bit by doing so.”

Jordan Jones & Goulding of Atlanta continued working on the design during the permitting and contractor selection process. BJWSA representatives visited projects under way or completed by the top three contenders before choosing Pizzagalli.

Once on board, the contractor provided value engineering, which saved the utility money on pipe materials, and made recommendations about constructability.

Electrical subcontractor Cogburn Bros. of Jacksonville, Fla., also suggested changes that favorably impacted the budget.

Construction began with 30 percent of the design complete.

BJWSA partnered with SCE&G to supply drinking, raw and reverse-osmosis water for the nearby generating plant. The reverse osmosis-water is stripped of minerals to decrease buildup inside the power equipment.

The electrical and water plant projects are on similar completion schedules, and BJWSA was required by the power company to meet multiple intermediary deadlines. “Schedule became the primary driving force,” Barrington said.

Site work subcontractor Malphrus Construction of Hilton Head, S.C., built a 60-acre raw-water reservoir through months of rainy weather, losing only two days.

Keeping the water flowing to customers was vital and required some coordination. An 18-mi.-long open canal feeds water to BJWSA’s other plant. Crews had to run pipes to feed the new plant under one side of the existing plant’s canal to the other.

“We had to cross the canal with a 36-in. and 54-in. piping, and we had a four-day window to shut the canal down, open, excavate and install the piping across the canal,” said Andy Potts, project manager for Pizzagalli.

The project also includes construction of a reservoir pump station; a flocculation basin, where the cleaning process begins; a sedimentation basin; a filtration building; a chemical supply building; a 4-million-gallon finished water storage tank; and an administration and control building.

The new plant will produce 10 million gallons of drinking water per day and is upgradeable to 30 gallons per day.

The poured-in-place concrete project consumed 10,000 cu. yds. of concrete, and 1,000 tons of rebar were placed.

About 70 workers are onsite, working primarily four 10-hour days.

Barrington said, given the same demands, the water utility would consider using the fast-track approach on future projects.

“It has worked so successfully here,” she added. “I am most proud of what we have accomplished so far. We’ve accomplished it through a hard-working contractor, hard-working engineers and the ability to effectively communicate.”

Purrysburg Water Treatment Plant Project Team:

Owner: Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority, Beaufort, S.C.
General Contractor: Pizzagalli Construction Co., South Burlington, Vt.
Engineer: Jordan Jones and Goulding, Atlanta
Electrical Contractor: Cogburn Bros., Jacksonville, Fla.
Site-Work Contractor: Malphrus Construction, Hilton Head, S.C.

Useful Sources:

For more information about this project’s contractor, please visit: www.pizzagalli.com