Construction on the City of Poway’s clearwell replacement is anticipated to begin this fall following the award of contract to Gateway Pacific Contractors, Inc. The contract was awarded at the Sept. 19 Poway City Council meeting.
The clearwell is Poway’s major storage reservoir for water treated at the water treatment plant, prior to being distributed to Poway water customers.
The Poway City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to issue up to $38 million in bonds for construction of two 4 million-gallon concrete water tanks at the Lester J. Berglund Water Treatment Plant.
Building the tanks to replace an outdated 10 million-gallon water storage reservoir near Lake Poway is the city’s largest capital improvement program since it incorporated in 1980, said Shadi Sami, principal civil engineer of Poway’s public works department.
The new water storage system is needed to provide safe and reliable water service now that the existing system has reached the end of its useful life, she told council members. The new concrete tanks are expected to be durable and long-lasting, she said.
(Editor’s note: The City of Poway is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)
With Poway’s Clearwell Bypass Project now complete, the temporary bypass system is expected to be fully operational this month, officials said. Sometime in November, the city’s clearwell, or treated water reservoir, will be permanently removed from service and the bypass pipeline, the temporary tanks and other bypass infrastructure will be in service, said Shadi Sami, Poway’s principal civil engineer, at a recent City Council meeting
Construction will start soon on the first of three projects to increase the reliability of drinking water for Poway water customers now and generations to come. Two water storage tanks will be built asd part of a temporary bypass project.
During construction access to some amenities at Lake Poway will be impacted.
Construction will start soon on the first of three projects to increase the reliability of drinking water for Poway water customers now and generations to come. Two water storage tanks will be built as part of a temporary bypass project.
During construction access to some amenities at Lake Poway will be impacted.
The ballfield at Lake Poway will be closed beginning Monday, September 20 for the construction of two tanks, each with the capacity to store 1.4 million gallons of treated water. The tanks are part of the temporary bypass project, which once completed will allow the city to move forward with replacing the clearwell (treated water storage) at the water treatment plant.
The parking lot adjacent to the volleyball court will be used for equipment staging and parking. It tentatively will be fenced off the week of Sept. 13. The Public Works parking lot off Lake Poway Road, which is open to the public for free parking on the weekends, will be closed beginning Sept. 20.
The clearwell replacement project is expected to be completed by Fall 2024. At that time the ballfield will be fully restored and both parking areas will reopen.
The clearwell replacement project consists of replacing the existing clearwell with two new reservoirs. Graphic: City of Poway
With the goal of increasing the reliability of drinking water for water customers now and generations to come, the City of Poway is undertaking the largest capital improvement program (CIP) in the city’s 40-year history.
The CIP will include replacing the clearwell (water storage reservoir) at the water treatment plant and a new San Diego County Water Authority treated water connection and redundant pipeline. In order to replace the clearwell, a temporary bypass project will include two 1.4 million-gallon tanks for storing treated water.
Construction is set to begin soon on a water infrastructure project in the City of Poway. Graphic: City of Poway
The San Diego County Water Authority treated water connection and redundant pipeline project provides Poway with its first treated water connection to the SDCWA’s treated water aqueduct, as well as providing redundant pipelines. The project will help diversify Poway’s water supply portfolio and allow for operational flexibility and plant maintenance. It will also provide a redundant pipeline to the 36″ water transmission line on Lake Poway Road, which is currently the single transmission line that carries treated water to the distribution system.
The infrastructure improvement projects are moving ahead as part of a mutually beneficial agreement between Poway and the State Division of Drinking Water.
(Editor’s note: The City of Poway is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the metropolitan San Diego region.)
Poway is getting close to beginning the long-anticipated overhaul of its water system, following a 2019 crisis when the city’s water supply was contaminated by stormwater.
“It’s the largest capital improvement program the City of Poway has ever undertaken,” Shadi Sami, a city engineer helping oversee the project, told ABC 10News.
Currently, Poway gets its water from one source. Untreated water comes in from the San Diego County Water Authority, gets stored in Lake Poway, then goes to Poway’s water treatment plant and is stored in a clear well, before being distributed to residents and businesses. Following a storm in 2019, a valve that should not have been open allowed contaminated water into that clear well. With no other source of water, residents were under a boil water order for several days.
The Poway City Council will discuss the potential restoration of one of its watersheds, the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon, at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The council will be asked to direct staff on how it wants to move forward with its involvement in a restoration project of salt marshes in the lagoon. The project is part of a joint-agency effort to reduce sediment in the watershed.
The City of Poway’s drinking water remains high-quality according to the city’s 2019 annual Water Quality Report.
The annual publication is a state and federal requirement that provides test results of water quality analysis conducted in 2019, according to a press release from the city. It is also called a Consumer Confidence Report and is intended to educate the public on the extensive monitoring done on tap water and the findings of those tests.
Thousands of people in Poway will receive a small break on their water bill after Poway City Council voted 4 – 1 to distribute varying amounts of bill credits.
At its meeting Tuesday night, the council approved spending up to $420,000 to issue one-time credits to those impacted by the week-long Boil Water Advisory in November 2019.
Residents noticed discolored water coming from their faucets in late November, and the city issued a Boil Water Advisory the next day.
Poway water customers may be in line for small credits on an upcoming bill because the recent six-day boil-water advisory late last year.
Pending the council’s likely approval, the typical residential customer will see a one-time credit of about $28.72 in either March or April, depending on which bimonthly billing cycle the customer is on.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
