By Julia Glendening
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Thursday, August 6, 2009
A committee formed by the
Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority
(RWSA) has selected HDR Engineering as its choice to conduct a dredging feasibility study for the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir. The committee
interviewed the two candidates
, HDR Engineering and F.X. Browne Incorporated, on August 3, 2009. Tom Frederick, Executive Director of the RWSA, said staff was able to contact 7 out of 10 of HDR’s references listed by HDR and said every reference was positive and all were connected to dredging projects.
During the interview, Project Manager Carey Burch stated HDR was founded in 1917 and has almost 8,000 employees around the world. He admitted he had not studied the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir in depth, but has been involved in many dredging services with all types of bodies of water across the country. HDR Engineer Peter Berrini described the bathymetric study that would be conducted to measure the contours of the reservoir floor the amount of sediment settled over the years. He also introduced the concept of flocculation enhancement to speed up the dewatering process of the slurry removed from the reservoir. Burch also answered questions from the committee and said a forebay for the reservoir must be very large and dredged every few years.
The committee unanimously approved the selection and will now negotiate a contract and bring it before the RWSA Board of Directors who will make the final decision.
