Fallbrook, Calif. – Students at Fallbrook High, Oasis High, or Ivy High schools can now apply online for a paid summer internship program at Fallbrook Public Utility District. The internship is available to any student enrolled in one of those schools as a junior or senior for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year.
When the San Diego County Water Authority installed major sections of 66- to 96-inch diameter pipelines in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, the regional water wholesale agency used cost-saving pipeline material – a combination of steel wires, thin steel pipe, and concrete widely known as Pre-Stressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP). Decades later, agencies around the globe realized that some pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe didn’t last as long as advertised and could fail catastrophically.
The Water Authority deployed a multi-faceted response, using high-tech asset management tools to identify pipeline sections with the greatest risk of failure and a targeted pipeline relining strategy that minimizes community impacts during construction. The agency’s relining program started in the 1980s and ramped up in the early 2000s. Today, it is on track to complete more than 45 miles of relined pipeline in the next few months.
The current project is taking place deep below the urban streets of La Mesa, California, where the Water Authority and its contractor, L.H. Woods & Sons, Inc., are on schedule to conclude by summer. The delicate, 4.3-mile operation started in September 2017 after years of cross-departmental preparation to ensure the work on the $28.6 million contract could be completed in a cost-efficient fashion without impacting water deliveries. Instead of trenching and removing the old pipe, crews excavate 13 entry portals at strategic points, then insert steel liners into the pipeline using a specially designed cart. When the pipe installation work is done, the portals are backfilled, the streets are repaved, and the pipeline is put back in service for at least another 75 years – at about half the cost of a conventional pipeline replacement project.
To identify sections of its 310-mile large-diameter pipeline system that require relining, the Water Authority relies on a suite of high-tech monitoring tools that are part of its pioneering asset management strategy.
Weak spots are often first detected with a “PING!” indicating a snapped steel wire in the PCCP. That sound is relayed through acoustic fiber optic cables – installed as an early warning system inside pipelines – so that Water Authority staff can be alerted by email and cell phone. Each ping is matched with results from Remote Field Eddy Current assessments and visual inspection data, then mapped using Google Earth.
With that information, pipeline segments are plotted on a risk matrix showing the condition and impact of failure. The sections with high risk and high consequence of failure are prioritized for upgrades. On occasion, emergency repairs are required where failure is imminent and the risks are significant. Other, less risky sections continue to be monitored and managed to maximize their service life. This risk-based approach has allowed the Water Authority to avoid more than $200 million in infrastructure spending.
Planning for the current project started in 2011. The long lead time was necessary, in part, to coordinate with two of the Water Authority’s retail member agencies that would not be able to take water deliveries from the pipeline when it was down for upgrades. Local or stored supplies in surface water reservoirs could be used in case they were needed during the project.
Critical planning elements also included accounting for other utility assets, property lines and easement rights, environmental impacts, traffic flow and construction noise. Coordination with the local power utility, the regional transit agency and local city officials helped align schedules of concurrent projects, timely address unforeseen conditions and establish relationships to endure potential mid-course project revisions.
During the design phase, Water Authority staff also identified environmental resources requiring protection and mitigation measures. For instance, noise impacts need to be addressed during construction with the installation of large wooden sound walls around work sites. In addition, the plan included with silt fences, fiber rolls and street sweeping to protect nearby waterways from storm water runoff. In addition, an environmental monitor routinely assesses the contractor’s compliance with environmental commitments.
Relining is often an elegant solution to pipeline deterioration, but it’s not a simple one. The Water Authority’s solution is to use multiple portals, or entry points, to access sections of the pipeline at strategic spots. The footprint of each of the 13 portals for the current project is approximately 25 feet by 60 feet. Photo: SDCWA
Relining is often an elegant solution to pipeline deterioration, but it’s not a simple one. Crews can’t just insert a single 4.3-mile-long steel liner, partly due to curves and changes in elevation along the route. The Water Authority’s solution is to use multiple portals, or entry points, to access sections of the pipeline at strategic spots. The footprint of each of the 13 portals for the current project is approximately 25 feet by 60 feet. When accounting for laydown, staging and other related work areas, the project encompasses 12.5 acres.
Each portal serves as ground zero for construction, including site excavation and removal of two 20-foot sections of existing pipe to make room for work crews operating the specially designed liner carts. The initial project design identified portals located roughly 2,000 feet apart. However, the contractor adapted its liner carts to better navigate curves and elevation changes. This innovative approach meant the project required fewer portals, saving money and significantly reducing impacts to nearby neighborhoods.
Once the liners are installed, they are welded together, grout is injected to fill the space between the liners and the original pipe, and cement mortar is applied on the inside of the steel liner. To complete the work, new 20-foot sections of the pipe are installed – reconnecting the pipeline through each portal. Then, the portal areas are backfilled, and the portals are returned to like-new condition.
While construction crews carry out that work, the asset management team stays on mission by using removed pipe to perform destructive load testing of pipe sections. On the current project, testing showed steel relining can withstand advanced deterioration of the outside pipe – helping to confirm that steel liners can last at least 75 years.
While the number of portals in the current project was reduced, construction activities remained significant for several months in the highly urbanized area. Four portals were in a four-lane road, temporarily reducing traffic to one lane in each direction. Additionally, two portals were adjacent to major retail parking lots, and six others were less than 100 feet from homes.
From design through construction, the Water Authority conducted significant public outreach, including open house events for neighbors to meet agency staff; distribution of postcards and doorhangers to thousands of neighbors; and the development of “Open During Construction” signs for retail centers. This proactive outreach kept stakeholders engaged with project activities, helping to reduce complaints and resolve issues quickly.
When the current relining project wraps up this summer, the Water Authority will have relined more than half of its pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipelines – a critical part of the agency’s commitment to ensure a safe and reliable water supply that sustains a $220 billion regional economy and the quality of life for 3.3 million residents.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has repeatedly said that the proposed $16.7 billion WaterFix project will cost homeowners $2 to $5 a month.
In reality, MWD’s own data and assumptions show the costs could be $21 a month for San Diego County homeowners when the project’s full debt payments are in effect. The costs would grow to more than $23 a month if MWD ends up paying more for the project – a real possibility given that the MWD board effectively gave the agency’s general manager a blank check for the project.
On April 10, MWD’s board committed $10.8 billion to the twin tunnels project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta to stabilize its supplies from the State Water Project. This authorization more than doubled its previous pledge. MWD’s own documents show there will be no increase in water supply compared to spending $5.2 billion for a single-tunnel project.
MWD’s costs will impact customers differently across Southern California, depending on how much water their local agencies purchase from MWD.
San Diego County bills also will be affected by how MWD decides to recover its costs through rates and charges. Traditionally, the state Department of Water Resources has characterized facilities like the WaterFix as supply costs, however, MWD’s planning documents suggest that it plans to recoup WaterFix costs through its transportation rates.
If WaterFix costs are allocated to MWD’s transportation rates, average monthly household bills in San Diego County could rise by $21 in coming years because the Water Authority uses MWD’s aqueduct to transport large volumes of non-MWD water from the Colorado River to San Diego County.
If MWD allocates its WaterFix costs as supplies, average monthly household bills in San Diego County would rise by 55 cents to 80 cents when the project is implemented because the Water Authority’s purchases of MWD supplies are expected to continue dropping significantly in coming decades.
All costs would rise if the overall project bill grows beyond current projections.
The Bay-Delta is the hub of the State Water Project, the nation’s largest state-built water conveyance system. That system has become less reliable in recent decades as the environment has deteriorated. San Diego County’s reliance on Bay-Delta supplies has decreased significantly in recent years due to the Water Authority’s successful strategy to develop locally controlled, drought-proof water supplies, and long-term water-use efficiency measures by homes and businesses across the region.
The Water Authority’s Board of Directors has long supported the development of a cost effective and environmentally sustainable Bay-Delta solution, and it has actively engaged in long-running discussions about how to address region’s complex environmental and water supply challenges. The Water Authority’s Board has not taken a formal position on WaterFix because of key unanswered questions about who would pay project costs.
The current projected cost for WaterFix is $16.7 billion, and MWD’s Board voted April 10 to pay 64.6 percent. However, MWD Board left the agency’s actual WaterFix payment to the “reasonable discretion and judgment” of its general manager, to whom the Board also gave sole authority over determining the project’s final cost.
The Water Authority’s delegates to MWD’s Board voted against the funding proposal because MWD did not provide sufficient cost-benefit analysis of the options or enough time to fully evaluate the recommendations. Delegates from cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and San Fernando also voted against the proposal, which passed with 60.83 percent of the vote.
Chula Vista, Calif. – Local high school students will be honored for their winning photos at the Sweetwater Authority Governing Board meeting on May 9. More than 40 students from the Authority’s service area entered the annual water photo contest, which included a short essay about why water is an essential resource.
Chula Vista, Calif. – On May 2, the Sweetwater Authority’s Governing Board kicked off the start of the agency’s first project of its five-year capital improvement plan with a commemorative pipe-signing at its Board meeting.
Encinitas, Calif. – Olivenhain Municipal Water District and the Escondido Creek Conservancy invite amateur photographers of all ages to Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve for the thirteeth annual amateur photography contest, which launched on Saturday, April 21, and will conclude on Monday, September 3.
Encinitas, Calif. – OMWD’s 4S Ranch Water Reclamation Facility received the “Small Safety Plant of the Year” award from the California Water Environment Association during the statewide awards ceremony on April 20. In addition, as the highest rated California facility in the Safety Category, the Water Environment Federation also presented OMWD with its coveted George W. Burke Award.
San Diego, Calif. – Sharing images that highlight the importance of safe and reliable water supplies in San Diego County will win valuable prizes for dozens of participants during a social media contest that spans Water Awareness Month in May.
San Diego County has secured sufficient water supplies for 2018 and beyond despite below-average, low snowpack in the Sierra Nevada at the start of April when the snowpack typically peaks.
The April 2 survey by the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program showed water content in the snowpack statewide increased from 23 percent of average on March 1 to 54 percent of the historical average at the start of April. The early-April snow survey is deemed the most important for forecasting supplies from the State Water Project, which provides about 15 percent of the San Diego region’s water supplies.
“That’s a big improvement over last month, and there are still storms moving through the Sierra,” Alexi Schnell, a water resources specialist for the Water Authority, told the agency’s Board on April 12.
Water Use Drops Nearly 50 Percent
In San Diego County, ratepayers have invested heavily in drought-resilient supplies from water recycling, seawater desalination and conservation-and-transfer agreements for high-priority supplies from the Colorado River.
At the same time, the region’s per capita potable water use dropped by 47 percent between fiscal years 1990 and 2017 due to numerous conservation programs coupled with a strong commitment by residents and businesses countywide to “Live WaterSmart.”
In addition to the State Water Project, the San Diego region’s water supplies come from local sources such as the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant and the Colorado River, which accounts for roughly three quarters of local supplies. Late March conditions in the Upper Colorado River Basin were better than the Sierra at 72 percent of normal snowpack – though the basin remains in a long-term drought.
Karla Nemeth, Director of the California Department of Water Resources, left, Cindy Messer, Chief Deputy Director (DWR), center, assists Frank Gehrke, Chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, with the fourth snow survey of 2018 at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The survey site is approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County. Photo:
Dale Kolke / California Department of Water Resources
On the home front, Lindbergh Field and the Ramona Airport have reported only 33 percent and 40 percent of normal rainfall respectively since the start of the water year in October.
In addition, the local hot streak persisted through late-winter, with average daily maximum temperatures at Lindbergh Field remaining above normal into early April. Over the past four years, only two months have been cooler than normal.
San Marcos, Calif. – On April 4, the Vallecitos Water District was honored for achieving re-accreditation as a “District of Distinction” by the Special District Leadership Foundation (SDLF). The accreditation is designed as a way for districts to highlight their prudent fiscal practices along with other areas important to effectively operate and govern a special district. California SDLF public affairs field coordinator Chris Palmer was on hand to recognize Vallecitos for completing the essential governance requirements. This is the second time Vallecitos has received this biannual accreditation.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
Sweetwater Authority Logo 2019