A flurry of construction activity began in July for the Prairie Waters Project as additional construction begins to rev up and ongoing construction rolls along.

In July, work on the northern most section of pipeline commenced. Additional work at the three pump station facilities will also begin. These are two significant milestones for the project as it marks the beginning of the heaviest construction phase to bring the City’s South Platte River resources to Aurora homes and businesses.

Ongoing construction at the Aurora Reservoir Water Purification Facility and for the first segment of pipeline continues at a rapid pace. Construction of the new treatment plant is about 37 percent complete. Work on the middle section of pipeline near Denver International Airport is about 41 percent complete. Ongoing construction at the North Campus area of the project is about 5 percent complete.

In other project news; a series of educational banners are beginning to appear at various city facilities to help the public learn more about the project. These small banners will be hosted a various libraries and recreation centers throughout the project. The first banners appeared in the Aqua Lounge at the Aurora Reservoir in early June. Other banners are now at the Beck Recreation Center and at the Central and Tallyn’s Reach libraries.

Aurora Water recently received recognition from Liberty Mutual for having a spotless safety record on the first contract for its Prairie Waters Project—Aurora’s innovative and sustainable water project to deliver an additional 3.3 billion gallons of water to the city per year by 2010.

An honorary plaque was given to the city in recognition of an outstanding safety record during construction of the Aurora Reservoir Water Purification Facility Access Road contract. Constructed by Concrete Express, crews for the roadway project performed more than 27,000 hours worked with no accidents that resulted in workers missing time.

The roadway project began construction in December 2006 and concluded in September 2007. That project not only paved the way for construction of the new purification facility near the Aurora Reservoir, but also set the high safety standard for future Prairie Waters Project contracts. That is evident at the purification facility. Western Summit Constructors Inc. has worked more than 145,000 combined hours with no injuries resulting in workers missing time since crews broke ground in July 2007.

The Prairie Waters Project is the fastest, most cost-effective and environmentally sustainable way to meet Aurora’s water needs for the residents of today and tomorrow. The project consists of a natural purification area along the South Platte River near Brighton, three pumping stations, more than 34 miles of pipeline and a new water purification facility currently under construction just north of the Aurora Reservoir.

For more information on what’s happening at the Aurora Prairie Waters Project, please visit http://www.prairiewaters.org/whatsnew.htm.

Aurora, CO – As Western Summit begins construction of its largest project in their 27 year history, the Aurora Prairie Waters Water Treatment Plant Project Team is off to a remarkable start. With a green-field site just north of the Aurora Reservoir, F-16 jets from Buckley Air Force Base fly over all day long, as this $190 million project progresses.

This monumental 50 million gallons per day (mgd) drinking water plant will be a state-of-the-art treatment facility when completed in 2011. Western Summit and fellow stakeholders - CH2M Hill as the Design Engineer, Carollo Engineers as Construction Manager, and the City of Aurora as Owner, all embrace the mindset of sharing the same goal: to complete this project with great success on time and on budget, with an exceptional safety record.

Since the Groundbreaking Ceremony, Western Summit has hit the ground running - making significant progress on such a sizeable, important project. With a massive mobilization coordination, all Project Management Staff and Field Supervision Staff are now on site and working through day to day challenges and accomplishments. To date, Horn Excavating – excavation subcontractor to WSCI - has already moved nearly 700,000 cubic yards of dirt. When complete, this number will total a massive 1.3 million cubic yards. “They have really gotten us off to a great start on this project – we are pleased with their progress,” says Project Manager, Steve Bosshart of Horn Excavating’s work.

Recently, major concrete subcontractor, Lillard & Clark, has mobilized its concrete batch plant to the site and together, we have already poured some of the concrete foundations and structures. As well, we are in the middle of a critical shut down of the 72” Aurora Reservoir Raw Water pipeline that must be back on line by February 1, 2008. Both Western Summit and ERS, our sister company, are working hard to complete this work on time and maintain the aggressive 42-month schedule.

“The project has a solid, dedicated core group of people with excellent experience levels and a superior work ethic,” explains Keith Buccholtz – the Project’s Site Manager. Right now, to meet the critical path, our project engineers are working diligently procuring the vital equipment and materials necessary to stay on track. As well, our field supervision and engineers are working in a dynamic, schedule-driven environment with undivided support from the City of Aurora.

This water treatment plant and associated projects will create a sustainable water supply to support Aurora’s constant growth for the next 12 years and provide necessary infrastructure for the second largest water district in Colorado.