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The Portland City Council on Wednesday authorized construction of two critical water infrastructure improvement projects, with guaranteed maximum prices totaling almost $1.5 billion.

A new water filtration facility will be built to remove cryptosporidium and other potential contaminants from the Bull Run water supply. That project will be built in two phases for no more than $1.069 billion. The first phase will include site preparation and earthwork. MWH-Kiewit JV 鈥� a joint venture of Colorado-based MWH Constructors and Kiewit Corp. 鈥� is the construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC).

Separately, pipelines will be installed to take water from the filtration facility and the $20.4 million corrosion control facility completed last year to the existing water system. The pipelines project also will be built in two phases for no more than $404 million. Bull Run Conveyance Partners 鈥� a joint venture of J.W. Fowler and MWH Constructors 鈥� is the CM/GC.

Throughout five years of planning and design, the Portland Water Bureau has sought to manage costs for the projects. Ongoing value engineering has reduced construction costs by $200 million and federal financing will save at least $247 million. Nevertheless, the total program budget (financing, planning, design and construction) has increased substantially from $1.482 billion to $1.834 billion, according to a Portland Water Bureau staff report. Higher construction costs and a limited contractor/labor pool are considered the culprits, the bureau stated.

The filtration facility will be constructed on a 95-acre parcel in rural Multnomah County, Portland Water Bureau Director Gabe Solmer said during a Portland City Council meeting on June 28. Granular media filtration will allow the plant to process up to 145 million gallons of water per day.

In addition to MWH-Kiewit JV, the project team includes Brown and Caldwell聽(program management), and聽Stantec听补苍诲听Carollo Engineers聽(design). Also, MWA Architects supported the engineering team. Construction of the filtration facility is set to begin in September and finish in 2027.

The Portland Water Bureau鈥檚 five-year capital improvement plan accounts for the filtration facility. Approximately $91 million was requested for fiscal year 2023鈥�24. A total of approximately $1.06 billion will be requested for fiscal years 2024鈥�25 to 2028鈥�29. Funding will come from a combination of net proceeds from bond sales, a low-interest Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan via the Environmental Protection Agency, water sales revenue, and other sources such as system development charges and interest earnings.

The pipelines project is being designed by Jacobs of California. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2024 and finish in 2027. That project鈥檚 cost will be covered by the same sources.