12/20/2009
Hawaii—The County of Kaua‘i has selected Briant Construction, Inc. the construction subsidiary of award winning Kaua‘i based Aqua Engineers, Inc—Hawaii’s largest water and wastewater management company—to upgrade and expand the island’s Waimea Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

The project will help the County of Kaua‘i provide reliable, expanded wastewater service for Waimea to meet future wastewater treatment demands of the region. The project also will create jobs for many local contractors on Kaua‘i, bringing significant long-term employment opportunities to Kaua‘i.

“We are pleased that Briant Construction, Inc., a Kaua'i-based company, was awarded the contract for the Waimea WTP project via a competitive proposal process. We look forward to the job opportunities this project will provide our residents along with future economic development on the Westside as a result of the increased capacity of the treatment plant,” said Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr. “This is an excellent example of how the people of Kaua'i are directly benefitting from federal stimulus funds.”

Expected to take two years to complete, the redesigned and rebuilt Waimea Plant will use state of the art filtration systems and clean energy technology such as photovoltaics for optimal service and cost efficiencies. The plant’s treatment capacity will more than double, to 700,000 gallons per day from 300,000 gallons per day. In addition, the expanded and upgraded plant will produce a higher quality effluent (R-1), which can be used for irrigation and which will reduce the county’s reliance on other water sources.
A design-build approach will be used for the project, during which the plant will continue to operate while under construction.

“We’d like to thank the County of Kaua‘i for selecting our team to help invest in the Waimea community,” said Eassie Miller, president and CEO of Aqua Engineers. “This project will bring jobs to the community, save the county money, and conserve precious potable water. We see it as a ‘win-win’ for the community and environment.”

Financing of the project comes in part from $7 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) stimulus money being funded through the State Department of Health from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Briant Construction has participated in several projects for the County of Kaua‘i over the past five years, including the Lihue Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade for which a dedication was held in October. In their private sector operation, Briant Construction completed the Poipu Water Reclamation Facility upgrade, which is a similar project to the Waimea Wastewater Treatment Plant project.

Aqua Engineers was previously honored by the US Army for providing sustainable solutions in partnership with the US Army Garrison-Hawaii (USAG-HI). Aqua Engineers was also awarded the GE ecomagination Award in 2007, receiving project recognition for its partnership with the US Military and for its role in taking operational measures to improve the environment—the focus being on lowering emissions and integrating with local communities and continuing to be good corporate citizens.