OGDEN — The city hired a contractor to build its new water treatment facility, and construction will likely begin on the $13 million project next year.
The plant, which sits at the top of Ogden Canyon below Pineview Reservoir, was originally built in 1954.
Since then, it has undergone several renovations and upgrades, most recently in the mid-1990s. Although the facility still provides safe drinking water, it does not meet current seismic codes and has some serious structural issues.
“There are some issues where we have to fix it sooner rather than later,” said Ogden City Engineer Justin Anderson. “And since it was worked on in the 1990s, seismic codes have changed, too.”
Nearly 60 years after it was built, the plant has reached the point that repairing its defects has become more expensive than replacing it.
The Ogden City Council, in accordance with the 2012 Master Plan, has authorized funds to reconstruct the plant.
Earlier this year, the council also approved a resolution that will allow the city to borrow $1 million from the sewer fund and lend it to the water fund to expedite construction of the new plant.
After a qualification process that included a proposal evaluation, a detailed presentation and in-depth interviews, the city chose Sunrise Engineering to build the plant.
Sunrise was the author of the city’s recently adopted Water Master Plan. The firm has been in business in Utah for 32 years and has been involved in numerous other Ogden city water projects, including the 9th Street reservoirs, 23rd Street reservoir rehabilitation and the transmission line from 36th Street to 46th Street.
Anderson said the new filter plant is a step forward in ensuring the long-term viability of the Ogden city water system. The new plant will provide cleaner and more dependable water to the entire city.
The plant will be built at the same location as the current one, next to a pretreatment facility.
In September, the plant reached a milestone: More than 1 billion gallons of drinking water have been produced at the plant since it opened.
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