La Pine Water and Wastewater Systems Improvement (WWSI) Project.
La Pine, Ore.
Merit Award
Presented by Taylor Northwest
owner City of La Pine
Leading design company/Civil Anderson Perry & Associates Inc.
General Contractor Taylor Northwest
MEP engineer Electro Tech Engineering Inc.
Subcontractors Tri County Paving; McKenzie Falls; Anderson Erosion Control; T-Bailey; Bomba Abbas; Mikes Fence; Civil Cascade; Stadeli Boring & Tunneling; On the Fly Plumbing
For decades, the City of La Pine faced a critical public health and environmental challenge due to widespread reliance on aging and failing septic systems. Groundwater studies also revealed elevated nitrate levels in residential wells, a direct result of septic tank drainfields located near shallow wells.
In response, the city began a $37.1 million, decade-long effort to replace septic systems with a centralized sewer system and to install new drinking water infrastructure. The project resulted in nearly 300 properties being connected to the city’s municipal water and sewer systems.
The comprehensive scope included upgrading the existing wastewater treatment facility with a new 20-acre effluent storage lagoon, irrigation pumping station, and two 100-acre central irrigation pivots. Crews also built a 500,000-gallon welded steel water storage tank with well pump upgrades and transmission and collection systems installed in two neighborhoods.
Unforeseen cultural artifacts regularly turned up during construction, but rather than let the discoveries derail the schedule, crews remained flexible and moved to other areas while the artifacts were recovered.
