Fountain Valley : City Staff Recommends Firm for Reservoir Work

The city Public Works Department has recommended that the City Council award a contract to the second lowest bidder on a reservoir construction project to help prevent a water shortage over the summer months.

Although the lowest bid was just under $455,000, the department is recommending that the council hire a “more experienced” firm for the project, the Taymech Corp. of Santa Ana, which submitted a bid of almost $500,000, according to Wayne Osborne, city director of public works.

The council will vote on the bids at its meeting tonight. If one is approved, construction is to begin next month.

Osborne said the department decided to recommend a more experienced firm to ensure that the project will be completed by July 1. If construction is delayed, the city could experience a water shortage during the summer months, he said.

The project will entail remodeling the interior of the pump station and replacing three engines and three pumps at the 5-million-gallon reservoir located south of Ellis Avenue and west of Bushard Street.

The reservoir station was constructed in 1972 and the machinery is too old to be repaired, Osborne said. The city will rely on its other reservoir at Ellis Avenue and Euclid Street, which has the same capacity, during the construction.