PSB Builds Major Infrastructure for System Reliability and Growth NEWS RELEASE Contact: Hector Gonzales, Government Affairs Manager 915-594-5661 (office), e-mail: hgonzale@epwu.org Date: March 27, 2008 El Paso – At its recent meeting of the Public Service Board, El Paso Water Utilities Engineering Technical Services presented a summary of multiple water, wastewater, and reclaimed water construction projects that were begun over the last 12 months and have been recently completed. Wastewater projects totaling $10 million dollars allowed for replacing outdated disinfection equipment and new process containment structures at the Fred Hervey Water Reclamation Plant in an effort to improve the reliability and efficiency of the wastewater treatment process; $14 million in new pump lift stations located at Easy Way at Doniphan on the westside, and at the corner of Global Reach and George Perry to allow for continued development at the Airport, and electrical improvements in East El Paso at Sam Snead & Pico Norte Streets were also completed. Projects totaling $22 million dollars were recently completed to include 24" to 48" diameter sewage conveyance pipelines in the city's northwest area from Easy Way to Thorn Streets, and Eastlake Drive to south of I-10. Water projects totaling $31 million dollars were spent for replacing aging pipelines, as was the case at Redd Road and Westwind Drive. New 30" water supply and transmission lines were constructed in northwest El Paso from Northwestern to Helen of Troy and Redd Road, while a 36" water line from McCombs to Sean Haggerty Road was constructed to allow for new development in the City's Northeast side. Two million gallon elevated tanks in the far eastside and new water tanks and pump stations in northwest, central, and northeast El Paso were also constructed. Seventeen projects were presented totaling $77 million dollars in construction. Worth noting is that because of strong project management and quality design controls, there was only a 1.1 percent increase in costs due to change orders. The Utility's target benchmark goal for change order excellence continues to be 2% or less.