CLEARWATER, FL, Aug. 15, 2011 -- A $162 million contract has been approved by Tampa Bay Water's board of directors to renovate the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir and increase the facility's storage by 3 billion gallons.

The contract is with design-builder Kiewit Infrastructure South and formalizes Kiewit's technical solution to meet Tampa Bay Water objectives of long-term reliability, long-term performance and lowest long-term cost.

Of the $162 million, $156 million is allocated to the reservoir renovation and additional 3 billion gallons of storage. Approximately $6 million is reserved in an owner's allowance for unforeseen costs.

Work on the reservoir renovation project will be done in phases. Tampa Bay Water will fund the $15 million needed for the first phase through existing bond proceeds, resulting in no rate impact to customers at this time.

The timing of additional financing will depend on the permitting schedule and costs recovered in the on-going litigation case. The utility is currently pursuing a lawsuit with the engineers who originally built the reservoir and hope to recoup some of the repair costs.

In 2006, cracking appeared in the facility's soil-cement erosion control lining. Kiewit's solution addresses the underlying cause of the soil cement cracking with a proposed design that prevents water from being trapped behind the soil cement. Kiewit's solution removes and reclaims the flat-plat soil cement and soil wedge; removes the geomembrane; and adds embankment fill, a drainage system, a new geomembrane and stair-step soil cement around the entire interior face.

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