Harford County Breaks Ground for Expansion of the Abingdon Water Treatment Plant

(Abingdon, MD – March 5, 2009) – – Harford County Executive David R. Craig, accompanied by the director of the Department of Public Works, Bob Cooper, Mayor Michael Bennett of the City of Aberdeen and Mayor Rob Preston of the Town of Bel Air, and County Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti, today broke ground for the expansion of the Abingdon Water Treatment Plant in Abingdon. The construction of the addition to the existing water plant is scheduled for completion in October 2011.

“Today we embark on our future with the expansion of the Abingdon Water Treatment Plant,” County Executive Craig stated. “Water is vital to our businesses, commercial and industrial properties, and residential consumers. This project will help ensure we meet the needs of our community for many years to come,” Craig remarked.

The project is a 10 million gallon per day expansion, which will provide the facility with an ultimate capacity of 20 million gallon per day, and a total county water treatment capacity of 30.5 million gallons per day.

The total estimated cost for the project is $70 million. An estimated 500 personnel will be involved in the construction process which will entail approximately 500,000 staff hours to complete.

“A project of this magnitude and importance for Harford County requires a quality team of County personnel, design and construction management consultants and contractors,” remarked Bob Cooper, Director of the Harford County Department of Public Works. “The citizens of Harford County and customers of our water system can be assured we have an excellent team for this project,” Cooper said.

Among the large contractual customers of the Harford County water system are Maryland American, which uses approximately 500,000 gallons per day and services the Bel Air and the surrounding area; the City of Aberdeen which uses approximately 2 million gallons per day; Greenridge Utilities which uses nearly 150,000 gallons per day and Clorox Company which uses nearly 300,000 gallons per day.

The existing water treatment plant will remain in operation throughout the
duration of the expansion project, but will be temporarily shut down from time to time for critical tie-ins with the new facility.

Hazen and Sawyer of Raleigh, North Carolina is the engineer for the project and Pizzagalli Construction Company of South Burlington, Vermont serves as the general contractor.