- Creates a laboratory environment for
evaluating future projects
Update: January
8, 2004*
In the ensuing year, a great deal of work has
been accomplished:
Pipeline design and construction plans are now almost 100 percent
complete.
Wetlands distribution system design and construction plans are also
nearly 100 percent complete.
All of the required wetlands and discharge-related permits have been
submitted and are currently being processed.
All substantive pipeline alignment and associated land acquisition
issues have been addressed.
Much of the scientific data required to establish baseline conditions and
develop plans for the wetland distribution system has been collected.
A significant portion of the work,
including design and permitting work under contracts with Jacobs Engineering, is
structured on a time-and-material basis. This has allowed the ECUA/IP Project
Team to consider variances in the estimated overall costs of the contracts as
necessary to accommodate scope additions or deletions. As the design and
permitting work draws to a close, it appears that the overall original
contracted amounts will be sufficient to cover this aspect of the
project.
As the engineering design for the pipeline
and wetlands projects nears completion, the focus of the Project Team will shift
to working with the regulatory agencies to finalize the necessary permits.
The most critical permit required to construct the project is the NPDES
(National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit to be issued by the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The NPDES permit
application was submitted in October 2002 and, after several rounds of Requests
for Additional Information (RAIs), was deemed complete in August 2003.
FDEP anticipates scheduling a public
meeting in January to receive comments on the proposed permit. They estimate it
will be March 2004 before the permit can be issued. This schedule could be
altered by an administrative challenge.
The Project Team plans to advertise for bids as soon as the NPDES
and other necessary permits are received. After bids are received, the Project
Team
will evaluate the proposals and make a recommendation to the Board for the award
of a construction contract.
Update:
September 30, 2002*
International
Paper (IP) and the Escambia County Utilities Authority announced today their
respective Boards have approved plans for the innovative $84 million
wastewater treatment projects.
IP and
ECUA will jointly construct a 10-mile pipeline that will convey wastewater from
IP's Pensacola Mill and a new residential wastewater treatment facility slated
for completion at the end of 2005, to a 2,000-acre tract of wetlands owned by IP
in southwest Escambia County. The cost of this shared construction project
is $34 million. In addition, IP will spend $27 million to further upgrade
its existing water treatment plant, and ECUA projects it will spend $23 million
to build its new facility on the IP Pensacola Mill site. The wetlands are
slated for completion in October 2004, with the IP plant upgrades to be done by
February 2005. Completion of the pipeline is expected in April 2005.
The permitting process will begin immediately and construction will begin as
soon as permits are issued.
Update:
February 5, 2002*
A
Preliminary Engineering Study of the of
the shared pipeline and wetlands projects was initiated by a joint ECUA - IP
Project Team. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the cost and
feasibility of the project with the objective of drafting a Final Agreement
between ECUA and IP for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of
the shared facilities.
The
Preliminary Engineering Study is nearly complete and the draft of the
recommended Final Agreement is expected to be presented to the ECUA Board and
IP's corporate management within the next thirty to sixty days. If both
Boards agree, the Final Agreement's actual design work may begin as early as
Spring 2002.
Update: June 1,
2001*
The
ECUA Board formally voted today to accept this agreement.
Update:
February 16, 2001*
ECUA,
FDEP, and International Paper met on February 12, 2001, to discuss issues that
remain to be settled before the Partnership can arrive at an agreement to
proceed with the portions of the projects that ECUA and IP would undertake
jointly. These projects are the pipeline from the parallel wastewater treatment
plants and the wetlands site.
The Partnership is hopeful that the outstanding issues regarding funding
and permitting will be settled, allowing for an agreement to be reached in April
2001, which will enable the initiation of detailed engineering and cost
allocations.
