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Water Intake Project Completion Delayed; Engineers Receive Three-Month Contract Extension

By Nathan Ham

The New River Water Intake Project that was supposed to be completed by November 7 still has some work to be done to reach its completion.

At the October 18 meeting of the Boone Town Council, W.K. Dickson & Co, Inc., the engineering company for the water intake project, received authorization for up to three months beyond the original completion date to finish up the project.

According to the agreement, Harper Corporation, the contractor for the project, will be working at least 60 hours per week through the end of the project to complete everything in the additional three-month extension. The agreement states that the “Not to Exceed” (NTE) cost for the remaining services will be $137,600 to be paid by the Town of Boone.

The additional time needed to complete the project is at least in part due to delayed or cancelled inspections because of weather, according to the amended agreement, and other inspection cancellations by the contractor. According to documents provided by S&ME, Inc. of Charlotte, a total of 12 inspections between July 24, 2017 and September 24, 2018 were cancelled and had to be rescheduled.

The water intake project officially began on February 13, 2017 after the Harper Corporation and Garney Construction Company, Inc., were given the Notice to Proceed from the Town of Boone for the Boone Water Line, Water Treatment Plant and Intake and Booster Pump Station Project.

The total cost of project will be just over $42 million.