Cerritos

A Sacramento-based firm has been selected to build an $8.5 million system to irrigate Cerritos parks, street medians and greenbelts with treated wastewater and sewage. Gates and Fox/Amalgamated was chosen by the City Council from among four firms vying for the project which calls for 20 miles of new pipeline and a pumping station to move treated effluent from a treatment plant in the city’s northwest corner.

The bid by Gates and Fox to build the delivery system was $6.48 million. Construction will begin in November, with completion of the project expected sometime in late 1986, said Cerritos spokeswoman Michele Ogle.

When finished, Cerritos will become the first city in southeast Los Angeles County to irrigate public lands entirely with treated wastewater. While reclaimed water is safe for aquatic life and human contact, it is not considered safe for drinking.

Besides Gates and Fox, the council members selected two Northern California firms as the project’s inspector and construction manager. As inspector, Harris and Associates of Lafayette will make sure the system meets local and state health and construction standards. J. A. Boyd and Associates of San Francisco will coordinate construction schedules.

Harris and Associates bid $102,000 for the inspector job, while the J. A. Boyd company bid $240,000 to oversee construction.