City of Saline to Spend $36,500 on Drinking Water Study Required by Federal Government

Saline City Council voted 6-0 to pay Tetra Tech $36,500 to conduct a water system risk and resilience assessment and emergency response plan.

City engineer Jeff Fordice said the study was required by 2018 federal legislation called America's Water Infrastructure Act. The act requires community water systems to perform a risk and resilience assessment and then develop an emergency response plan. The city must develop its plan by June 30.

Tetra Tech Vice President Brian Rubel said the study will study the risks around natural hazards, malicious acts, cyber security and the resilience of suppliers to the system.

"It's just so you have a good feel for where your vulnerabilities are," Rubel told council.

Several council members expressed support for a project aimed at protecting the water system.

"I think it's good that we're doing this with respect to the quality of our water and making sure that our water system is operating and it's risk-free as possible," Councillor Kevin Camero-Sulak said.

But there was concern about being required by the federal government to produce a study without any funding from the government. Councillor Jack Ceo wanted to know if this was yet another unfunded mandate.

"This comes to the federal government. Is there any money attached to it help us get through this?" Ceo asked.

Rubel said that it was, indeed, an unfunded mandate.

Councillor Jim Dell'Orco asked if the city had ever been required to conduct such a study.

Rubel said cities conducted similar studies on water system safety after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

The federal law gives cities some leeway in deciding how thorough (and expensive) their study should be.

"Some, like Ann Arbor, have done a very, very complex detailed look at complying with this act really dove into recommendations and others are taking a much more minimal approach," Rubel said. "This approach leans toward the light side - a kind of light to medium approach."

Work is expected to begin in February.

The contract was awarded to Tetra Tech, one of the city's most common engineering and consultant firms without putting the project out for bids. Answering a question from Councillor Dean Girbach, Tetra Tech's Rubel said he estimated the city was saving $5,000-$10,000 by using Tetra Tech because of the firm's familiarity with the project.

The motion was moved by Dell'Orco, seconded by Camero-Sulak and passed by a 6-0 vote.

More News from Saline

• What to do in Saline: Cookie Decorating, Art Sale, Art Fair, Hornet Operations Center Open House and More Check out our community calendar to find out what's happening this week.
• Saline Library Takes the Show on the Road During Construction Phase Three of construction is scheduled to be finished in January.