BREMERTON — The City of Bremerton awarded Pape & Sons Construction, Inc., a $898,919 contract for a flow control and seismic valve project at the regular meeting Oct. 7.

This project originated when a 1995 seismic vulnerability assessment “identified a risk that we could basically lose a bridge, lose a water main,” said Ned Lever, Bremerton’s managing engineer for utilities.

The assessment pointed out the lack of seismic valves on the water mains between East and West Bremerton, which meant that in case of a seismic event such as an earthquake, if the valves were damaged, the city’s water supply could basically empty into the narrows.

Lever said that while there were manual valves, 15 to 20 gallons of water can be lost in a minute.

“Their recommendation was to install valves that have a seismic actuator that would automatically close if an earthquake should occur,” Lever said.Another part of the project is the flow control part, which Lever said is actually a higher priority because “in the last five or six years, we’ve replaced two of the high-risk pipes” that would be damaged in an earthquake.

The flow control will address the fact that the overflow elevation of the reservoirs in East Bremerton, 240 feet, is lower than the system in west Bremerton, 256 feet.

“We send more water into east Bremerton than we need to,” Lever said, “and it’s kind of a free-flowing situation.”

Lever said there’s an abundance of water being sent over, which can lead to “water age issues” and an imbalance of chlorine.

The project was opened for bids Sept. 10. There were seven total bids, but ultimately, the City Council went with Pape & Sons, the “lowest responsive bidder,” according to council documents.

The contract allows 160 calendar days for the project to be complete, with an additional 30-day period at the end, following substantial completion, for the project to be totally complete and accepted.

Lever said the project is “pretty straightforward,” and didn’t foresee any issue with it being completed on time. He also said there should be minimal impact to traffic throughout the project’s completion, as the locations of the water mains are either off the road completely, or in areas with minimal traffic.