Robert B. Goebel General Contractor Inc., of Spokane, is the apparent low bidder, with a bid of $9.3 million, for a Spokane County project to build the two main pump stations to connect residents to the county's planned wastewater-treatment plant.

The county likely will award Goebel a contract for the work later this month, and the projects are expected to be completed by June 2011, about six months before the new $140-million plant is to go online, says Dave Moss, the county's water reclamation section manager. The county will use that six months to test the facility, he says.

"We want to be sure our pumping stations and pipelines are ready ahead of time to start preliminary testing and treatment," Moss says.

In the project, the contractor will build pump stations that will serve the county's two main sewer lines—called the north valley sewer interceptor line and the south valley interceptor—to pump the wastewater to the planned new county sewer plant, Moss says. The county recently broke ground for that facility at the site of the former stockyards, at 1004 N. Freya Street, in Spokane.

Currently, those two interceptor lines connect with the city of Spokane's sewer system.

The north valley interceptor runs generally along the south side of the Spokane River, and serves about one third of the county's sewer customers, Moss says. The south valley interceptor serves about two-thirds of its customers and in the vicinity of the new facility runs generally along Fourth Avenue, south of Interstate 90, Moss says.

The north valley interceptor pump station is to be constructed on property that the county bought from the Community Colleges of Spokane, east of the Spokane Community College campus near the alignment of Havana Street.

The south valley interceptor pump station will be constructed near the intersection of Fourth and Myrtle Street, Moss says.

The stations will be constructed with concrete and brick, Moss says. Each of the two pump stations will be equipped with six submersible pumps that will be installed in wet wells to pump the wastewater to the treatment plant. Along with the pumps, each station will contain electrical equipment and valves, along with emergency generators and odor control systems, Moss says.

Though the south valley interceptor will carry much higher flows than the north line, its pump station will be at a higher elevation compared with the location of the planned wastewater treatment plant, so it will be equipped with 100-horsepower pumps.

The north valley interceptor pump station, however, is at a lower altitude, so it will be equipped with 134-horsepower pumps, Moss says.