The water tank is located in the flight plan for the Colorado Springs airport and the adjacent Peterson Air Force Base. McCarthy and DN Tanks coordinated with the FAA to ensure the design met the agency's stringent guidelines. Construction on the water tank started in March 2014 and is on track for a July completion.

An Unconventional Approach

MWH Global is supporting Colorado Springs Utilities to oversee construction, procurement, environmental permitting, program controls, public involvement and all other areas of the SDS program, co-locating so that the teams are integrated and work literally side by side.

The entire program is currently about $147 million under budget, a feat the project management team attributes to the decision to divide the massive project into 20 separate work packages—including 11 raw water sections of pipeline and three finished water pipeline sections—to encourage competitive bidding and value engineered solutions.

“Instead of being tied to one contractor, we broke [the project] into smaller pieces so that smaller contractors could qualify. The goal was to spend money in Colorado—especially in southern Colorado—not on big national firms,” says John Fredell, SDS program director with Colorado Springs Utilities, the project’s owner.

“[SDS] spent $619 million through last year and $514 million of that stayed with Colorado firms,” adds Janet Rummel, SDS public involvement manager. Northwest Pipe in Commerce City, Colo., manufactured the more than 7,000 50-ft sections of mostly 66-in.-dia welded steel pipe that have been installed from Pueblo Reservoir north to Colorado Springs.

“We worked very hard as a team to be good stewards of our customers’ money through a combination of project management and value engineering. We focused on only building what we needed, scrubbing out any unnecessary costs and being innovative with our approach. We also were building at an ideal time; contractors were very competitive as were the costs of material and labor and borrowing,” Rummel says.

SDS at a Glance

Phase I Projects Completed to Date:

• Connection to the North Outlet Works of Pueblo Dam

• 50 miles of raw and finished water pipeline

Phase I Projects Currently Under Construction:

• A water treatment plant on the east side of Colorado Springs will treat up to 50 million gallons per day when it goes on line in 2016 and could handle up to 130 MGD with future expansions.

• Three raw water pump stations, each with capacity of 50 MGD: Juniper Pump Station near Pueblo Dam and the Bradley and Williams Creek pump stations in southern El Paso County. Together, the three pump stations will boost water about 1,500 ft in elevation to reach the water treatment plant.

Phase II Looking Ahead:

• Scheduled for construction in the 2020-2025 timeframe, Phase II will include two new reservoirs and expansions at the water treatment plant and pump stations.