Posted on: Sunday, July 25, 2004
Warranty on sewage pumps may be useless
| • | Sewage spills over into courts |
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
If anything goes wrong with a $6.6 million sewage pump system that's nearing completion on Sand Island, city taxpayers may be stuck with a much bigger bill.
The pumps are being installed in conjunction with a $77 million disinfection unit under construction at the city's main wastewater treatment plant.
The unit has been at the center of lawsuits over alleged poor planning and construction management, and the warranty runs out Aug. 26. But the equipment and workers who will run it are still months away from being fully prepared, court documents filed by Robison Construction Inc. show.
The company is the prime contractor for the disinfection project, and is the plaintiff in two lawsuits against the city.
City managing director Ben Lee confirmed that the warranty will run out before the city takes full responsibility for the equipment, but said he hopes a warranty extension can be negotiated with a company that supplied the pumps. He would not say how much that could cost.
"Even if we start tomorrow and get this whole thing sorted out, it's still going to run beyond August," he said. "There's no way that the interface (with the disinfection unit and other components), testing, and all the training can be done by the end of August."
The warranty period began when the pumps were delivered many months ago but should have started only after they were activated, Lee said. He would not say who he believed was at fault for the way the deal was structured.
"I'm hopeful we don't have to pay more," he said.
The first suit claims that design flaws and shoddy construction management caused more than a year of delays and could cost $20 million. The city disputes that and has steadily pushed for completion of the project while the case is pending.
The second suit charges that the city failed to properly contract with another company to train operators for the pumps and prepare them for service. The city maintains that those are Robison's obligations.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency required the disinfection unit to be working by July 2002, but the city later said it would be impossible to complete the project before August of this year. No new target date has been firmly set for putting the unit into service.
The disinfection unit is a main component in a comprehensive upgrade to the plant that is expected to cost nearly $400 million and minimize ocean pollution from O'ahu's wastewater. The plant treats about two-thirds of O'ahu's sewage, nearly 70 million gallons of wastewater per day.
The EPA has repeatedly cited the plant for multiple violations of its permit to dump partially treated sewage into deep water about two miles off Sand Island. City officials say the discharge poses no threat to human or marine life while the upgrade is pending.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
The city's warranty for the equipment expires Aug. 26, and that's well before the pumps will be fully tested and put into service with a trained workforce. Construction delays and contract disputes have contributed to the deadline woes, according to court records and city officials.
• • •
| Sewage spills over into courts
• The Honolulu City Council has spent about $800,000 in fees and court costs to fight lawsuits filed by the main contractor alleging plans to upgrade the disinfection unit were flawed and poorly managed. • May 2004 — Environmental groups threaten to sue over sewage spills and violations of federal clean-water standards. • May 2004 — City asks EPA for a new permit to continue operating the facility. • November 2003 — The plant's discharge permit and waiver expires, but operations may continue, EPA says, while the city's applications are pending. • October 2003 — City and Robison Construction Inc. begin settlement negotiations in civil lawsuit over design problems. • February 2003 — City officials study cost of upgrading the sewage treatment method. • The Federal Clean Water Act requires most sewage plants to remove more sludge from wastewater before dumping into the ocean. Sand Island operates under a special waiver. • October 2002 — City officials blast EPA inspection team and pressure the agency to rescind some highly critical findings. • July 2002 — EPA says Honolulu should more aggressively check recreational waters and fish for pollutants related to the Sand Island plant. • February 2002 — The Health Department rated the plant "unsatisfactory" because effluent contained high levels of toxic chemicals. Sand Island plant also cited for deteriorated equipment, questionably calibrated meters and for insufficient staffing levels. • 1990 — Environmental groups sue to force the city to make $250 million upgrade of the Sand Island plant; the case was later settled out of court. • City asks for waiver for more costly secondary-stage sewage treatment. • 1984 — City tries to correct problems to avoid stiff fines or loss of federal money. |
