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McCarthy Building Cos. has reached a critical milestone in another water project in its portfolio.
The contractor, along with engineer of record Black & Veatch, marked the completion of the Kansas River Wastewater Treatment Plant Modernization in Lawrence, Kansas, according to a Monday announcement from the builder. The project cost $74.3 million.
Improvements to the facility include the conversion of four aeration basins to biological nutrient removal basins, with the goal of significantly reducing nitrogen and phosphorus discharged into the Kansas River. A new supervisory control and data acquisition facility will provide plant operators with real-time monitoring and control of all plant systems. The scope also included electrical and infrastructure upgrades, according to the announcement.
McCarthy and the city began the upgrades because of the plant’s age and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, according to the builder. With these improvements, the facility now meets updated National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit standards set by the state Department of Health and Environment.
The plant, which has been in operation since 1956, processes roughly 8 million gallons, or about 80 percent, of the city’s daily wastewater, according to McCarthy. It worked as a only sewage treatment plant in the city until 2018, when the Wakarusa River Wastewater Treatment Plant began operating, according to the city’s wastewater treatment information page.
The project represented another milestone for the city: McCarthy delivered the project using the construction manager-at-risk method, the city’s first application of the procurement format on a wastewater project. The use of CMAR has increased in infrastructure jobs, with experts who promoted it effectiveness in reducing owner risk.
“As the city’s first CMAR wastewater project, this effort demonstrated how a collaborative delivery approach can create significant value for the client and all project partners by strengthening coordination, reducing risk and supporting smart solutions from preconstruction to completion,” said Kerry Klausner, McCarthy’s senior project manager, in the press release.
McCarthy, like other contractors, has carried out water projects throughout the country. Alongside collaborator Black & Veatch, the builder has reached a critical milestone in January on a $168 million water treatment job in Mesa, Arizona. Then, in June, a McCarthy-Jacobs JV began work on one $185 million water project in Torrance, California.
