The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) required major rehabilitation improvements and upgrades to enable continued compliance with their NPDES permit. A program management at-risk approach was selected to identify, prioritize, design, construct and startup the improvements from 2000 to 2005 and provide the oversight needed to coordinate improvements impacting every aspect of the treatment process without negatively impacting operations and causing a permit violation. As an equal, at-risk partner of the Detroit Wastewater Partners (DWP), Wade Trim provided on-site Program Management At-Risk services at the 1.7 billion gallon per day WWTP.
During the project, 134 construction contracts were administered, individual project schedules and a master schedule were monitored and 1,533 contractor claims and change requests were resolved. A staff of 50 field engineers and inspectors was used to manage $224 million of construction improvements. The Program Management team was responsible for contracting with engineers to design and contractors to build the projects, as well as performing all aspects of construction engineering and inspection. An extensive operation and maintenance training and support program was also provided to ensure O&M activities were keeping processes and equipment performing at its best.
Scheduling was critical to every aspect of the program. Major pump components were pre-procured. Design-build was used where needed. Materials and equipment shipping and storage were monitored closely. A capacity-loaded shutdown schedule was developed to ensure equipment and processes shut downs would allow the plant to continue to operate. The contract was extended into 2008 to enable continued construction administration and inspection of contracts that were still underway when the initial 5-year period ended.
