Richland Creek Reservoir project surging with construction activity

According to Brown and Caldwell’s Kelly Comstock, a managing consultant on Paulding’s reservoir project, work is progressing at the site and one part of the project was recently completed ahead of schedule. Comstock told Paulding commissioners last week that overall the project continues on schedule and under budget.
“...You can’t ask for more than that,” commented Post 2 Commissioner Todd Pownall at last week’s regular Board of Commissioners morning session. Several hundred are now hard at work on Paulding’s reservoir site, Comstock said.
The project’s lineage involves a pump station at the Etowah River, three miles long, and then another pump station in the reservoir that pumps water out into the treatment plant, and then another pump station that sends the water through 12 miles of pipe to Dallas. Comstock told Paulding commissioners during their morning session last week that five areas are “rapidly changing” and began his update with the water treatment plant, at which almost half of the concrete has been poured, masonry is ongoing at the administrative building and piping is in place for a 6,000 gallon tank, he said. At the reservoir intake and pump station the base slab and first lift of walls at the intake tower have been poured, grading at the electrical building is finalized, and under-slab utilities have begun. This intake will pull water from the reservoir and pump it to the water treatment plant.
Additionally PC Construction has also begun work at the Etowah River intake, Comstock said. The RCR is being located on approximately 700-acres of county-owned land in northern Paulding County, in Post 4 Commissioner Tony Crowe’s district. The RCR will be on Richland Creek, but will be filled with water from the Etowah River. “This will be the pump station that pulls water out of the Etowah River and pumps it through the raw water pipeline to fill the reservoir,” Comstock said.
The dam itself has begun installation of the grout curtain in preparation for the dam. About 82 percent, or 430,000 cubic yards, of the excavation work is completed, and an outlet tower and pipeline are being installed.
According to Brown and Caldwell’s Mark Harber, senior associate/construction services leader, the grouting operation in support of the dam will go on for the next five months or so. The dam itself is over 4,000 feet long, he said.
The Raw Water Pipeline, about three miles of 48 inch steel piping, had been completed ahead of schedule and pressure testing is also completed, making it the first significant construction to complete. The Finished Water pipe line is to be bid in two separate packages, Comstock said. One involves some easement acquisition and runs along Hwy 61. Another involves a section around the city of Dallas. Both are in their design stages, he said.
“...In order to start the pipeline that runs along 61, we decided to break that out into separate pipeline; that will draw the attention of some of the very large national pipeline contractors. The second section that heads off and skirts around the city of Dallas -- about 10,000 feet -- is a different type of construction that will be approachable by smaller contractors...so we figured that breaking it apart would speed the implementation and also get better competitive pricing, because we’ll be appealing to some smaller contractors for that second part,” he said.
Comstock said he anticipates the first part of the package tied to the 61 pipeline to come before the BoC in July. Easement acquisition for that project is underway and going well, he said.
Construction of the finished Water Pipeline and Booster Pump Station is expected to complete by March of 2019, with project completion expected around 2021.In July of last year Paulding commissioners approved the construction of the Richland Creek Dam and Reservoir to lowest bidder Brad Cole Construction in the amount of $42,708,932.67. Overall the program is on track with its projected $215 million total budget.
Funding is coming from a mixture of county-issued bonds, loans from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, and state grants. The reservoir is designed to yield about 35 million gallons per day and will provide about 3.43 billion gallons of water storage to support Paulding County.
Brown and Caldwell, the largest engineering consulting firm solely focused on the U.S. environmental sector, is serving as the county’s Program Manager and responsible for ensuring coordination of program tasks and contractors, maintaining schedule, managing project budgets, cost accountability, and communication of program progress with the public and other stakeholders.

Brown and Caldwell’s Kelly Comstock, a managing consultant on Paulding’s reservoir project, says work is progressing. (Photo: R. Grant)
2. RCR site. (Photo: R. Grant)