Last month, the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority expected that the project to upgrade the Kaufman Dam west of Fairlane Village mall would cost about $3 million.
At its March meeting Tuesday, the authority accepted a bid that was more than $1 million less, said Patrick Caulfield, authority executive director.
Bids were opened for the Kaufman Dam Rehabilitation Project on Friday.
"The apparent low bid was received from KC Construction at $1,718,566, which is 39 percent under the engineering estimate of $2,800,000," Caulfield said.
"That is fantastic," authority Chairman Charles M. Dries said.
"That's a new benchmark. All future contracts should save us at least a million bucks," said Franklin K. Schoeneman, authority assistant treasurer.
According to a memo from the engineering firm Alfred Benesch & Co., Pottsville, the other bidders and their bids were: New England Infrastructure Inc., $2,846,800; Charles J. Merlo Inc., $2,436,000; Landis C. Deck & Sons Site Contractors, a division of Reading Materials Inc., $2,234,480; and Performance Construction Services Inc., $1,827,697.41.
The authority has recently worked with KC Construction on two projects.
In 2010, the firm, based in Ivyland, Montgomery County, completed the authority's $2.5 million project to upgrade the Pine Run Reservoir in New Castle Township, Caulfield said.
KC Construction is also 90 percent complete with the authority's $3.5 million project to upgrade Mount Laurel Dam, Caulfield said.
"They're a very reputable contractor. We work well with them, so we have no problem recommending that this bid be accepted," he said.
The board unanimously approved the bid Tuesday.
Caulfield summarized the plans to upgrade the Kaufman Dam.
Built in 1896, Kaufman has a 104-million-gallon capacity, Caulfield said.
"The rehab will include a new spillway to be able to handle the 500-year flood. There will be downstream embankment work to bring it up to current standards and collect and monitor seepage," he said.
Kaufman is one of the two dams that feed the authority's Mount Laurel Water Filtration Plant. The other is the Mount Laurel Dam, Caulfield said.
The plant serves numerous municipalities and facilities including three prisons, Federal Correctional Institution/Schuylkill, Minersville, State Correctional Institution/Frackville and SCI/Mahanoy; Schuylkill Mall; Highridge Business Park; the Village of New Boston in Mahanoy Township; and New Castle, Mahanoy, Ryan, Cass, Foster and Butler townships, according to Caulfield.
"Trying to gauge the population number is tough since it's mostly institutional, commercial customers. Demand on the Mount Laurel system is approximately 1.1 million gallons per day," Caulfield said.
SCMA runs six dams. Over the past 12 years, the authority has worked to upgrade four of them, including Kaufman Dam and three others:
- Pine Run Reservoir, north of Saint Clair, had a $2.5 million rehabilitation project completed in 2010.
- Mount Laurel Dam Rehabilitation Project, budgeted at $3.5 million, began in 2012 and is scheduled to be completed later this year.
- Indian Run Dam, Branch Township, had $5,948,000 in upgrades completed in 2012.
The authority also manages the Eisenhuth and Wolf Creek dams. The authority serves water to more than 30,000 Schuylkill County residents in all or portions of 22 municipalities, according to its website.