The East Valley Water District (EVWD) in Highland has selected the joint venture of Balfour Beatty and Arcadis as the agency’s design-build partner to build the $126 million Sterling Natural Resource Center (SNRC) wastewater treatment facility.
The state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility will produce water to recharge the natural groundwater aquifer, with a design focused on reliability, efficiency and flexibility to initially treat eight million gallons of water per day. The project will also include a
community center supporting education, entertainment and leisure.
“The Sterling Natural Resource Center will be a multi-faceted public asset,” EVWD chairman Chris Carrillo said in a statement. “Through the skills and expertise that Balfour Beatty and their team brings to the project, we are confident that the SNRC is on track to becoming a world-class facility.”
The EVBD says district staff conducted a thorough selection process with multiple best-in-class firms to identify a design-build partner that understood the project, its significance to the community and overall vision.
The Balfour Beatty/Arcadis team includes Balfour Beatty (project management), Arcadis
U.S., Inc. (design manager/engineer-of-record); Ruhnau Clarke Architects (architect); Trussell Technologies (regulatory/permitting); WSP (off-site pipelines/recharge); and Inframark (operations).
“Selection of the design-build partner is a milestone that brings the Sterling Natural Resource Center one step closer to reality,” EVWD general manager/CEO John Mura said in the news release. “Now that we have secured our funding and selected our team, we are ready to begin construction before the end of 2018.”
Permitting and construction is expected to be completed in less than three years.
Capable of treating up to eight million gallons a day initially, with the ability to expand to 10 million gallons a day, the SNRC recharges the local Bunker Hill Groundwater Basin and creates new opportunities for the surrounding community in the form of education and training, community space, neighborhood improvements, and new habitat for the Santa Ana Sucker fish.
Earlier in the year, SNRC secured $126 million funding from the California State Water Resources Control Board for the project, with $119 million in low-interest loans and $6.7 million in grants for project design and construction.
An estimated 800 temporary construction jobs will be created.
