The Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency is planning a series of community meetings to share its design-build-operate (DBO) plans for a regional water supply system, and accept public input on its draft request for proposals documents for DBO contractors.

The first meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Woodland Community & Senior Center, 2001 East St. in Woodland. A date for a second meeting to be held in Davis will be announced soon.

Draft request for proposal documents are available online at www.wdcwa.com/news_events.

The Clean Water Agency is in the early design stages for the regional water supply project to bring surface water to Woodland and Davis. Project objectives — which include improving water quality, water supply reliability and the quality of treated wastewater discharge — were developed in response to challenges posed by aging water systems, more stringent drinking water regulations and stricter wastewater discharge permitting standards, among other things.

The DBO process is being pursued for its potential to reduce costs by streamlining the project development process, spokeswoman Kim Floyd said.

Under the DBO approach, a single contractor is responsible for all aspects of design and construction, and must commit to operating the facility at a fixed cost for a specified number of years. The DBO process has been proved to be faster than traditional approaches, resulting in cost savings on construction materials and labor, Floyd said.

Additionally, the contractor assumes all the risk in the various phases of project design and construction, and with the cost of operations during the life of the agreement.

However, the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency would maintain ownership of the water treatment facility, and would have the option to assume responsibility for operations if contract terms are not met by the contractor, or when the contract is up for renewal, Floyd said.

For more information on the Dec. 8 meeting, call Floyd at (916) 409-0426.

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