Operations and Maintenance of County Maintained Wastewater Treatment Plant and Wastewater Treatment System

This Request for Proposal (RFP) seeks proposals from fully licensed and insured domestic wastewater distribution and treatment system operation and maintenance service providers for the Memorial County Park Wastewater Treatment Plant and Wastewater Treatment System. The successful Contractor will be the Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator in charge of operations and maintenance of the wastewater treatment plant and the wastewater treatment system at Memorial County Park, and report to the San Mateo County Parks Department. Operation and maintenance of these facilities will include all necessary supplies, licensed and certified personnel, emergency response, public notifications and communications, sampling, testing, and the generation and submission of all reports required for the operation and maintenance of domestic wastewater facilities according to all applicable State, Federal, and local regulations. A detailed explanation of services required is provided herein.

The San Mateo County Parks Department (“Department” or “Parks”) manages 23 parks, encompassing over 16,000 acres of land. Through stewardship, the Department works to preserve the County’s natural and cultural treasures, and provide safe and accessible park, recreation, and learning opportunities to enhance the community’s quality of life.

Opened in 1924, Memorial County Park (“Memorial Park”)—located at 9500 Pescadero Creek Road, Loma Mar, California— is San Mateo County’s first park. Memorial Park is nestled in a secluded open space in the Santa Cruz Mountains, featuring 673 acres and over eight miles of trails in an old-growth redwood forest. Memorial Park continues to be a family centric destination for hiking and camping for nearly a century. With over 100,000 visitors annually, there are a multitude of picnicking and camping spots, as well as trails along the redwoods, where park visitors are able to relax and enjoy the serenity of the park. Memorial Park offers a year-round campground experience with 158 family camp sites organized into camp areas (e.g., Sequoia Flat Campground), day use areas, a visitor center, a camp store, and two youth camps (Homestead Youth Camp and Redwood Flat Youth Camp). In addition to reservable camping sites, coordinated special events, the park offers a number of other activities including a swimming hole in Pescadero Creek, campfire programs, naturalists walks, and movies in the park during weekends in the summer season.

The campground’s wastewater treatment and waste collection system includes a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) serving the eastern side of the park, a septic system serving the Homestead Youth Camp and ranger residence on the western side of the park, 9,650 feet of gravity sewer pipes, and 56 manholes. The majority of the sewers are asbestos cement pipe, but also include vitrified clay pipe, plastic pipe, and some cast iron pipe. These structures were built around 1966. Low or inadequate slopes (i.e., too shallow) are prevalent in the collection system. Sufficient slope is required to reach a flow velocity of 2 feet per second (fps) in order to achieve sufficient scouring of settled solids in the pipes and preventing potential backwatering, or obstructed flow.

In 2019, due to age of the treatment system components, increasing maintenance and related costs, and water quality concerns due to the proximity of the WWTP to the creek, the Department and the County’s Department of Public Works (“DPW”) implemented the Memorial Park Wastewater Treatment Facilities Improvement Project (the “Project”) within Memorial Park. The Project included improvements to the existing wastewater treatment system, including replacement of the existing WWTP, repairs and/or replacement of pipes and manholes, and other necessary upgrades to the system from wastewater conveyance to disposal. Phase 1 of the Project replaced the existing WWTP facility and septic system with a new WWTP in an unpaved area that was previous used as an overflow parking lot, approximately 150 feet southeast from the prior WWTP site and approximately 175 feet from the creek. Phase 1 also included the collection system repairs and replacements in the Azalea Flat Campground. The older, existing WWTP was repurposed as a lift station. Phase 2 involved improvements to the wastewater collection system with repairs and replacement to fix structural defects; lessen infiltration and inflow; and to provide a design flow of 2 fps, the amount of flow necessary to prevent backwatering, or obstructions.