Columbia water utility set to plan priority list of capital projects
A city agreement with a Texas-based engineering firm will help Columbia's water service utility in its planning and prioritizing of capital projects over the next 20 years. The Columbia City Council unanimously approved the lump sump $92,820 professional services agreement with Provenance Engineering. City staff used a prequalified list, which expedited the selection process of Provenance Engineering. Payment is coming from the water utility funds. "This agreement brings on technical expertise to review our current data, assess asset conditions and help structure our maintenance and capital improvement plans for the water utility," said Utilities Director Erin Keys, adding there will be a public input process led by the department and other city staff. A draft plan of recommendations will have public input as well. This process will give a clear plan for the water utility on its projects, with Keys praising previous similar processes for wastewater and stormwater integrated management plans. The list of ideas, couple with all the public input make it so the plan is "straightforward to communicate, defend and execute," she said. While Provenance Engineering will help with the overarching plan, it then is up to city staff to make decisions to implement the plan and make
