The Waukesha Water Utility has selected Kansas-based Black & Veatch as the construction manager for its Lake Michigan water supply project.
Waukesha reached an agreement last year to purchase Lake Michigan water from the city of Milwaukee after receiving approval to divert Great Lakes water. The city will be building a pipeline from Milwaukee and another for return flow to the Root River.
Black & Veatch was selected over Greeley and Hansen, CDM Smith and CH2M. The company has a Milwaukee office and will also partner with Brookfield-based raSmith.
The Waukesha Water Commission on Thursday approved a 10-week, $182,149 contract with Black & Veatch to begin constructability reviews ahead of submission to the Department of Natural Resources and Public Service Commission. The utility plans to finish negotiating contracts for the entire project and bring them to the commission for approval in May.
The four candidate firms were selected based on their ranking in a 2016 statement of qualifications. Waukesha is already working with Chicago-based Greeley and Hansen on other elements of the project and that firm will continue to provide engineering services.
All four firms met with utility management for an hour at the end of February. Kelly Zylstra, Waukesha Water Utility operations manager, told the commission that the utility’s management felt all four were qualified but Black & Veatch’s staff stood out a little bit and the company offered better rates.
“I think everybody was very competitive,” said Dan Duchniak, Waukesha Water Utility general manager.
