EchoWater Project – Bringing Water Back

SUMMARY

Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (SRCSD) implemented PMWeb to manage its EchoWater program – a $2.1 billion program to upgrade and build new wastewater treatment facilities. With the program completed successfully in Spring 2023, PMWeb is now being used on the $500 million USD South County Ag project.

OVERVIEW

The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (SRCSD) serves its customers by protecting public health and the environment through reliable and safe conveyance, treatment, and disposal of wastewater in the most cost-effective manner possible, now and into the future. The EchoWater Project was among the largest public works projects in the Sacramento region’s history. With all the new treatment processes online and operational in 2023, the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant was renamed the EchoWater Resource Recovery Facility. SRCSD purchased and used PMWeb for the program duration. Brown and Caldwell-HDR Joint Venture were hired by SRCSD to be the Program Manager and oversee planning, design, and construction.

CHALLANGE

The Advanced Water Treatment Program included building new treatment processes to meet increased regulatory requirements on the district. The program was divided into 22 projects of various size and duration which were constructed while the plant was in operation. The oversight, collaboration, and transparency needed for this project demanded a solution that would need to be comprehensive in tracking costs, easy to use, quick to deploy, and provide instant visibility through effective dashboard reporting.

SOLUTION

Several software solutions were reviewed and considered to handle the task of managing the project. Upon seeing its many advanced features and functionality, PMWeb was chosen to be the Project Controls system. The features that differentiated PMWeb from its competitors were the modern and advanced web interface, the built-in tools for easy configurations, and the powerful BI reporting system.

HKA-Tech Consultants, a leading reseller and implementer of PMWeb, provided full and part-time staff to work with the SRCSD team to determine configuration requirements, provide custom reports, training for end-users and administrators while providing support for the day-to-day use of PMWeb.

RESULTS AND BENEFITS

The QuickStart Phase was completed in June 2012 (40 users up and running within 90 days). Phase 1 and 2 consisted of the continued roll-out as more users and companies join the program. The program progressed from Design/Planning and rolled into Construction – with PMWeb functionality being brought online progressively. Users were continually being added as well, so these subsequent phases entailed ongoing training and custom report writing needs. By early 2018 there were more than 360 PMWeb users.

Cost Management, Budget, Schedules, Contract Management, Risk Management, and Change Management are the key business processes and PMWeb features being used by SRCSD.

SRCSD’s main program consists of multiple projects that are of significant size and duration, i.e. $3+ billion overall. The focus of PMWeb has been on this main program and PMWeb is being used to track the various activities during the Planning, Design, Procurement, and Construction phases of the program and its associated projects. The core aspects are around Risk Management, Meetings and associated Tasks, Drawings/Submittal Reviews, Procurement, Contract Management, and Correspondence. One of the most effective ways to see what SRCSD is doing within PMWeb is to analyze one of their dashboards (see below).

Original estimates projected EchoWater to cost around $2.1 billion to design and construct. PMWeb helped keep the final cost to about $1.7 billion. PMWeb was used to manage the following program areas: Program Costs, Budgets, Contracts, Invoices, Change Orders, Forecasts Program Documents, Meetings, Actions, Decisions, Issues, Design Deliverables, Deliverable reviews and comment tracking, Risk Management, Construction Estimates, and Schedules. In several areas, workflow and notifications were utilized to increase collaboration and accountability.