Once again the City of Chic kasha is soliciting requests for qualifications from companies seeking to operate and maintain its water and sewage treatment plants.
Applications are due in the city clerk’s office by 1:30 p.m. Oct. 31. City officials “may interview up to five companies and will select two to present bids for operation of the two plants,” the notice states.
The firm that is chosen will receive a f ive-year contract “with the possibility of a n additional f ive years…” The contract period will be July 1, 2025, to J une 30, 2030.
Although it was unclear, it’s doubtful the RFQ will include management of Chickasha’s new water treatment plant that is expected to be operational in about three years. The new treatment plant, expected to cost approximately $74 million, reportedly will be equipped with the latest water purification systems.
U.S. Water Services Corporation has managed the water and sewer plants for the last nine years under an initial f ive-year contract that was negotiated in 2015, renewed in 2020, and expires next year. In accordance with the base con tract, the city pays USW $2.1 million per year to operate both plants, Public Works Director Jim Crosby said.
The water plant was built 60 or 70 years ago – nobody seems to know precisely when – and is incapable of adequately treating water. Regardless of which activation date is accurate, the water plant has already surpassed its design capacity and useful life, and lacks modern technological advancements in water purification.
In September 2023, for example, the water treatment plant experienced a level of manganese that was higher than the typical range at the plant. The extra manganese caused the water to have some odor and discoloration.
One Chickasha family said they use five filters and a reverse osmosis system to clarify the water they buy from the city, which buys its water from Fort Cobb Lake.
The family says their two primary filters are purchased locally from a hardware store and are replaced every month – by which time they are the color of chocolate; one snow-white filter was “the color of light cardboard within 4 hours after it was installed,” the homeowners said. Two other of their water filters are expensive carbon units that cost nearly $60 a pair a nd have to be replaced every three to four months.
Chickasha’s water plant was designed to produce 6 million gallons of potable water each day but now provides “a maximum of 4.6 million gallons daily” to Chickasha and the nearby tiny community of Norge, City Manager Keith Johnson said.
“We have some serious issues with our water infrastructure,” Johnson said previously. “We’re at risk of not being able” to meet demands imposed on the water delivery system. The water treatment plant has several “deficiencies,” he told the council.
Despite the water plant’s limitations, the operator, USW, has made some repairs and even won an award for the Chickasha Municipal Authority. The city’s water treatment plant was one of 13 in the state that received a Water Fluoridation Quality Award in 2020 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fluoridation is the adjustment of fluoride in drinking water to a level that is effective for preventing tooth decay.
The RFQ notes that the City of Chickasha is in the process of building a new water treatment plant.
A design team from Freese & Nichols told the City Council on July 1 that the Oklahoma City engineering company is entering the final design phase on the new facility. Jason Cocklin told Southwest Ledger that F&N estimates completion of that phase “by the end of the year.”
That work will be followed by “regulatory engagement” and requisite state permits, he indicated. Next will be the bidding phase, which is anticipated for March through May 2025, Cocklin said.
After the contract is awarded, construction will take approximately 18 months to complete, from May 2025 until December 2026, F&N predicts.
The new treatment plant envisioned by the Chickasha Municipal Authority will be capable of producing up to 6 million gallons of drinking water daily “with provisions to expand to 8 mgd.” The water purification process will include pre-treatment, clarification, filtration and disinfection, the CMA said.