City water plant bids are less than expected

The city of White Salmon received some good news on Tuesday: The contractors' bids to construct the city's water filtering plant on Buck Creek came in well under the engineer's estimate of $1.8 million.

On Tuesday morning, city officials opened nine bids for the project, and the anticipated total cost to complete the water infrastructure project was pegged at $1.44 million.

"It's very good news," said White Salmon Public Works Director Mike Wellman. "We have $2 million in funding, so we have more than enough money to do the project."

The apparent low bidders are as follows:

To do the site work and build the filter plant itself: Tapani, based in Vancouver;

To construct three water reservoirs: Mount Baker Silo, based in Everson;

To handle all the electrical work for the project: Coburn Electric, based in Hood River, Ore.

"We still have to go through the process and check their qualifications," Wellman explained. "But we got great bids. It was beyond my wildest dreams we could do all this work and not have any money out of the city's pocket."

The city already has the funds for the water infrastructure project in hand. White Salmon has secured a $1.5 million grant from the Washington Department of Community Trade & Economic Development, plus another $500,000 grant from Klickitat County.

The filtering plant project was necessitated by the decline in recharge levels for the aquifer that has been feeding the city's municipal water wells. The water shortage has led to a moratorium on new water connections for areas served by the city of White Salmon's water system.

Although the bids still need to be reviewed, Wellman said he did not anticipate any snags with the bids or the companies involved.

"I'm familiar with all three, and they are all good companies," Wellman said. "We'll make a recommendation to go forward at the next council meeting."

The bids still need to be approved by the White Salmon City Council. The council's next meeting is scheduled for May 6, and the vote on whether to officially accept the bids is expected that evening.