SR 08-28-2018 3D
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: August 28, 2018
Agenda Item: 3.D
1 of 5
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Susan Cline, Director, Public Works, Water Resources
Subject: Award Contract for Granular Activated Carbon Replacement Services for the
Charnock Well Field and other City Water Treatment Sites
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award Bid #4341 to Carbon Activated Corporation, a California-based company,
for granular activated carbon media replacement and reactivation services for the
Charnock Well Field and other City water treatment sites; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Carbon
Activated Corporation, in an amount not to exceed $2,500,000 over a five-year
period including a 2.6% price decrease in year 4, with future year funding
contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
Granular activated carbon media is used at the City’s Charnock Well Field to remove
contaminants from groundwater to provide safe drinking water to over 18,000 Santa
Monica residential, commercial and institutional customer accounts. Staff recommends
the City award a five-year agreement in an amount not to exceed $2,500,000 to Carbon
Activated Corporation to provide 20,000-pound loads of granular activated carbon
media along with haul-away and reactivation services for spent media through October
31, 2023.
Discussion
The City uses granular activated carbon filter media to remove contaminants from
groundwater including methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) and other
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as part of a multi-stage water treatment process to
produce safe drinking water in compliance with state water quality requirements for use
by Santa Monica customers. The City’s Charnock Well Field and water treatment site,
located at 11375 Westminster Avenue in Los Angeles, produces approximately 50% of
2 of 5
the City’s potable water (5,870 acre feet of 11,627 acre feet total demand in FY 2017-
18) and requires periodic deliveries of 20,000-pound loads of activated carbon to
change out the media in 10 large adsorber vessels noted in Figure 1 below. As VOCs
are removed from groundwater, the activated carbon becomes “spent” and must be
replaced.
After the activated carbon treatment, Charnock water is piped to the City’s nearby
Arcadia Water Treatment Plant for final treatment including chemical application and
reverse osmosis filtration, and then distributed for use by Santa Monica residential,
commercial and institutional water customers (approximately 93,000 residents and
18,000+ service accounts). Rather than sending spent carbon to a hazardous waste
disposal site or landfill, the City requires that vendors “reactivate” carbon via a high
temperature furnace to burn off VOCs so that the carbon media can be reused.
Carbon Activated Corporation has supplied the City with granular activated carbon
replacement and reactivation services since the Charnock treatment site opened in
2011 to treat and remediate groundwater pollution from various oil companies /
responsible parties that was detected in three of the City’s five Charnock water
production wells. Significant progress has been made in the cleanup of the Charnock
groundwater sub-basin. As indicated in the table below, the need for activated carbon
filter media has dropped significantly since peaking in fiscal year 2013-14, indicating a
decrease in groundwater VOC concentration as polluted water is removed for
processing and replaced via natural aquifer recharge. The City’s groundwater
management consultants anticipate that Charnock sub-basin cleanup might be
3 of 5
achieved within five years barring any unforeseen pollution plume spikes or additional
contamination.
Fiscal Year 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18
# of 20,000-lb
Deliveries 16 28 40 24 19 20 11
Vendor Selection
The City requested prospective vendors quote pricing per 20,000-pound tanker truck
delivery of granular activated carbon media along with haul-away and reactivation of
spent carbon media. Bid results are summarized below, and pricing is based on one
20,000-lb delivery:
Bid Data
Bid Posting Date
Bid
Posted
On
Bid
Advertised In
(City Charter
& Municipal
Code)
# of
Vendors
Downloaded
# of
Submittals
Received
Date
Publicly
Opened
3/15/2018
City's
Online
Bidding
Site
Santa
Monica Daily
Press
22 4 4/02/2018
Submittals Received Vendor Selection Recommendation
Calgon
Carbon
Corporation
(coconut shell
carbon
$38,553.00
Municipal
Code SMMC 2.24.072
Calgon
Carbon
Corporation
(Filtrasorb
400)
$24,975.00
Evaluation
Criteria
Price, previous experience, ability to deliver,
quality of product, and compliance with City
specifications.
Carbon
Activated
Corporation
$22,996.75
Prominent
Systems $20,800.00
Best Bidder Carbon Activated Corporation
Best Bidder Justification
4 of 5
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to award a contractual services agreement with Carbon Activated
Corporation to provide granular activated carbon replacement and reactivation services
for the Charnock Well Field and other water treatment sites as required by the Water
Resources Division through October 2023. This agreement would be funded from the
Water Fund allocation of proceeds from the 2003/2006 Charnock water pollution
mitigation settlements with various oil companies.
Agreement Request
Request Amount
FY 2018-19 Budget
Public Works Department
Account #
Total Contract Amount
$500,000 50500002-525084 $2,500,000
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Kevin Nagata, Senior Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Carbon Activated Corporation is the best bidder and has provided similar satisfactory
services to the City over the past seven years with all product deliveries in compliance
with bacteriological testing requirements. Carbon Activated Corporation has a proven
track record with several other Southern California water utilities; positive references
were obtained by staff from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Los
Angeles Department of Public Works and the City of San Bernardino. Carbon Activated
Corporation offered the same pricing for contract years 1 to 3, and a 2.6% price
decrease in year 4 to be held in year 5 based on an expected increase in coconut shell
supply (source material for activated carbon). Staff verified that Carbon Activated
Corporation’s California state contractor’s license (General Engineering “A” classification)
is current, active and in good standing. The lowest monetary bidder, Prominent Systems,
did not meet the best bidder criteria.
5 of 5
Attachments:
A. Oaks Initiative Disclosure Form - Carbon Activated Corporation
REFERENCE:
Agreement No. 10737
(CCS)