April 6, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City Moves Forward With Dredging
DECATUR – The Decatur City Council last night took a step towards shoring up the city’s water supply with the approval of an agreement that will speed up the process of dredging Lake Decatur at less cost to Decatur residents.
The Council voted 7-0 to hire L.W. Matteson, Inc. to complete the dredging of Lake Decatur’s Basin 6, north of Rea’s Bridge Road. The total cost to the city to complete the work is $10,245,710, which was higher than the city’s original estimate but is still $754,290 less than the cost to continue with in-house dredging operations.
The private contractor will also complete Basin 6 dredging five years sooner than in-house dredging and provides the city with a fixed cost to complete Basin 6, avoiding the possibility of increases in labor, materials and fuel costs.
Matteson was the only company to bid on the project which was advertised for bids on February 10 with local media and with six regional plan houses that are traditionally used by the city. Eleven companies were directly informed of the project and seven companies purchased the project plans and specifications.
It is believed that bid costs were higher than the city’s original estimate and that the number of bidders was limited due to the increased amount of dredge work already occurring around the country made possible through stimulus funding. The bid also includes the purchase of the city’s dredge equipment for 44% of the original purchase price, which exceeds the 25% expected to be received for the equipment.
The Iowa based L.W. Matteson has recent experience in several similar lake dredging projects throughout the Midwest and has been a reputable dredging contractor since 1974.
“We expect that this will significantly reduce the amount of time that it takes to dredge Basin 6 which is an important part of our efforts to both maintain and increase water supply and to continue to develop our lake as an attraction for users,” said City Manager Ryan McCrady. “I don’t think we realize how great of a resource the lake is to this community and we have to do everything we can to protect and preserve that resource.”
Sedimentation has reduced the amount of water that can be stored in Lake Decatur by 28% and the community needs an additional 10,000 acre feet of water to be able to supply all water customers during times of severe drought. Dredging removes sediment from the lake’s bottom, maintaining current capacity and improving recreational opportunities for lake users.
Lake Decatur provides water for 82,000 customers in and around the area, supplying a necessary raw resource for local manufacturing. The volume of water Lake Decatur provided annually for consumer and industrial use would be akin to the usage of a suburban bedroom communtiy with a population of 350,000 residents.
Improving water supply is one of three stated goals of the Decatur City Council along with strengthening city neighborhoods and providing adequate space for the Decatur Police Department.
For more information contact Billy Tyus at 424-2753.