Laramie requests $5.85 million from ARPA for water projects
Wyoming set aside $50 million of its American Rescue Plan allocation for water and wastewater projects throughout the state. Laramie is bidding against other cities and towns for a cut of that pie.
The Laramie City Council has applied for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to support and improve city water and sewer projects and infrastructure.
The funding, if granted, would support upsizing some water pipes buried under the heart of the city, protecting wellheads on the outskirts of the city, and updating Laramie’s Water Master Plan.
The applications were reviewed during a council meeting last month.
“The reason these funds are available is because we are in the middle of a global nightmare and the passage of the American Rescue Plan dollars is in response to that,” Mayor Paul Weaver said during the meeting. “If it can help us build some resiliency in these systems across the board, obviously that is something that every city government is going to want to do, so again we hope for the best for these applications.”
During the 2022 Budget Session of the State Legislature, the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments received an appropriation of $50 million in APRA funds for eligible water and sewer projects throughout the state. These funds are available through competitive grant funding to cities, counties, special districts and tribal governments for eligible water and wastewater projects.
Any entity pursuing ARPA grant funding must complete an application and submit it to the State Loan and Investments Board (SLIB) by August 12. Then the board will review applications at its special meeting and award grants. The date for that meeting has not yet been determined.
During the Laramie City Council’s regular meeting July 19, the City reviewed several applications for the Water and Sewer ARPA Grant program.
Upsizing the C-Line
The first application reviewed by the council was for the C-Line Phase 2 project. This project will continue sanitary sewer improvements on the C-Line outfall line. Due to a bottleneck in the existing infrastructure, along with capacity deficiency and aging infrastructure configuration, Phase 2 of this project will replace the main pipe under Sixth Street between Canby Street and Ivinson Avenue.
This project is part of a larger effort to maintain and improve municipal infrastructure and continue multi-year major water and sewer improvements.
“Right now we are at about 90% design on this project,” Director of Public Works Brooks Webb said. ”We are hoping that by the time this hits the State Loan and Investment Board meeting, we will be ready to bid.”
The city completed Phase 1 last summer, which replaced the main line that runs from Second and Hancock Street to First and Canby Street. Phase 3 is planned for the future and will make improvements on Ivinson Avenue between Sixth and Ninth Streets.
“Phase 2 will replace an old, deteriorated pipe and upsize it to a 24-inch pipe through this section, helping with capacities in that area,” Webb said.
Due to supply chain issues and labor shortages, engineers estimate construction costs at approximately $3.5 million — up from just $2 million originally.
“Out of the three projects, this will be our number one priority project,” Webb said. “This project is the epitome of what the ARPA grant program is, so we feel pretty good about this one. It’s going to be very competitive and they’ve only got $50 million, which is not a whole lot when every entity in the state is going to be applying.”
Webb added the Office of State Loan and Investments is expecting 100-150 grant applications state-wide.
Protecting wellheads
The council also reviewed grant applications for the Wellhead Buildings Upgrades Project which aims to replace the existing wellhead buildings with permanent structures. The city has six wellhead buildings at the Pope Springs and Turner Tract sites.
Wellheads are enclosed in buildings, which require routine maintenance or replacement, and are sites for water wells and water treatment. This project will update the small fiberglass buildings while adding in remote monitoring and other security features.
“This project was spurred when we did our Wyoming Department of Homeland Security assessment and they recommended that we upgrade those facilities to protect them from contamination, vandalism, trespass and so on,” Webb said.
Bids for this project were rejected in 2021 due to over-budget project costs.
“We are designed for this and ready to bid again, fingers crossed we can get some grant funding for this project,” Webb said.
Revamping the master plan
The final project application would secure funding to revamp the Water Master Plan.
“The master plan is a vital tool for us as city staff,” Webb said. “It outlines the conditions measures for our infrastructure and makes recommendations for replacements and maintenance on future developments.”
It is recommended industry standard that a new Water Master Plan is completed every 10 years, Webb said. The city completed its last Water Master Plan in 2015.
“It is a multi-year process to get through these master plans, so by the time we get this wrapped up, it will be at that 10-year mark,” said Webb.
The new plan will include a water treatment plant evaluation. Webb said the city’s current treatment plant is nearly 60 years old and is in need of upgrades, maybe even complete replacement.
“As part of this master plan, we are looking at the treatment plant to see what more needs to be done,” Webb said. “We have replaced some equipment as it has aged, but we’re thinking there is going to be some big investment there in the future and this master plan will help build that.”
This story is supported by a grant through Wyoming’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the National Science Foundation.