Ready Before the First Drop: Sherman WWTP’s Startup and Commissioning

Startup and commissioning at the City of Sherman Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) was treated as a project workstream from the beginning, not a closeout task. In this conversation, Sponsor Kory Kyllo and Startup and Commissioning Manager Tyler Bly share lessons from the CMAR project. Their perspective shows how the team coordinated overlapping design, procurement and construction while preparing a new membrane bioreactor facility to accept raw wastewater on schedule and transition smoothly into operations.

Q: What defined success for Sherman’s startup and commissioning?

Kory: Success meant hitting the committed date to accept raw wastewater from the local industrial users. It also meant proving that the process-mechanical equipment had been fully tested before the plant went wet and making sure operators were ready to take over with confidence. We wanted a smooth handoff to operations, not just a milestone achieved on paper.

Q: What needed to happen before raw wastewater could be introduced?

Tyler: The process-mechanical equipment had to be tested and exercised first. That was the non-negotiable. Before the plant moved from controlled testing into wastewater conditions, we needed to know the pumps, valves, blowers and controls would behave as intended. That discipline reduced surprises and kept the startup sequence controlled.

Q: What did operator involvement look like during testing?

Tyler: Operators were in the field with us during functional testing, not waiting for a turnover meeting at the end. We ran equipment, triggered alarms and simulated shutdowns so they could see the system react in real time. That hands-on involvement showed them how the plant behaved during normal operation, failure scenarios and interlocks.

Q: Why was that hands-on approach so important?

Tyler: Because confidence comes from experience. Classroom training can explain how a system should work, but it does not prepare operators the same way field exposure does. At Sherman, operators saw alarm response, shutdown behavior and recovery steps before the plant transitioned to wastewater service. That made the learning curve shorter and the handoff stronger.

Q: What was the biggest schedule risk for startup and commissioning?

Tyler: Vendor scheduling. Vendors are often booked months out, so if a system was not ready when a startup visit was scheduled, the delay could ripple through the rest of the commissioning sequence. We treated those dates like fixed milestones and planned backward from them, so installation, wiring and energization stayed aligned with the startup window.

Q: What made testing consistent across so many systems?

Tyler: Detailed commissioning checklists. They gave us a repeatable way to work through alarms, interlocks, shutdowns and failure modes on every system. That consistency kept issues from slipping through and made it easier to move from one system to the next without losing momentum.

Q: How did early procurement planning support cost certainty on Sherman?

Kory: Cost certainty was a major benefit of the CMAR approach. Because we were involved early, we could identify critical equipment, understand procurement risks and make decisions while there was still time to manage cost and schedule impacts. The City also benefited from Kiewit’s in-house supply network, which works directly with our estimating, engineering and construction teams to evaluate supplier risks, benchmark escalation and support accurate pricing. The 30% cost model provided the client with valuable information to understand realistic cost drivers and refine budgets, to keep the final cost within the ranges presented in early-stage design. That level of procurement discipline gave the City a clearer picture of where the project was headed and helped the team make informed decisions preventing future field issues.

Q: What lesson from Sherman would you carry to the next wastewater project?

Kory: Start early and stay organized by system. The more clearly the team defines readiness, sequencing and ownership up front, the smoother the transition becomes later. Sherman worked because startup and commissioning were planned as part of the project from the very beginning and tied directly to the schedule, the operators and the equipment itself.

Closing

The City of Sherman WWTP showed that startup and commissioning is most effective when it begins early, stays system-focused and puts operators at the center of the process. The same early planning that supported testing and turnover also helped create procurement discipline and cost certainty. In close collaboration with the team, the project was delivered at a cost of 2.6% under the 65% cost estimate. This demonstrates how a coordinated CMAR approach can help owners manage both operational readiness and cost confidence.

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About the Authors

Kory Kyllo, Project Manager — Kory has been with Kiewit for 27 years and has worked on more than 15 collaborative delivery projects, helping clients move from preconstruction through commissioning. His experience includes more than $2 billion in water and wastewater work. On the City of Sherman Wastewater Treatment Plant, Kory led planning through turnover with a focus on sequencing, coordination and meeting the City’s service dates.

Tyler Bly, Startup and Commissioning Manager — Tyler has 19 years of industry experience leading field execution across mechanical, electrical and supervisory control and data acquisition systems during startup and commissioning. On the City of Sherman Wastewater Treatment Plant, Tyler led system testing and operator involvement to confirm equipment, controls and sequences performed correctly before the facility was placed into service.