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The Other Real Reason San Diego Water World is Warring

Rage Against the Machine’s “Take the Power Back,” is quickly becoming part of San Diego’s water wars soundtrack.

The power systems at play in that tune have nothing to do with California water politics. Nevertheless, its general message aimed at challenging oppressive systems sprang to mind while I watched Valley Center Municipal Water District board meeting last month.

Construction of the new Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir in North San Diego County was completed in June 2023.

Award-Winning Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir Project

The award-winning Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir enhances drinking water supply reliability and operational efficiency for the region. Construction was completed June 23 on the San Diego County Water Authority project in North San Diego County.

Work started in March 2021 with the demolition of an out-of-service steel tank.

Project work included construction of an underground isolation vault and flow control facility, in addition to a new 2.1 million-gallon water tank connected to the Valley Center Pipeline.

Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project-water infrastructure

The project included construction of the water tank, flow control facility, and valve vault; paving of the project site and access road; and installation of new security fencing. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Improved operational flexibility

Operational flexibility is increased at Hauck Mesa by balancing the flow of treated water between the agency’s First and Second Aqueducts and by helping to maintain water deliveries if power supplies are interrupted. The new storage reservoir enhances the Water Authority’s ability to provide reliable and efficient deliveries of treated water to member agencies.

The walls of the new tank are about 60 feet tall, stained a forest green color to blend in with the natural landscape, and made of prestressed, or wire wrapped, concrete.

“The prestressed technology will maintain the tank walls in permanent compression, allowing the tank to accommodate seismic events while remaining watertight,” said Water Authority Construction Manager Emma Ward-McNally.

The project reached a major milestone in April 2022 when crews poured the concrete roof of the new prestressed concrete water tank. The entire system, including the new tank and flow control facility, was put into service in May 2023.

Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project-concrete tower-water infrastructure

In April 2022, crews worked to pour the concrete roof of the new Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir in North San Diego County. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Award-winning Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project

The Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project has received two awards: The 2023 Honor Award from the American Public Works Association for Utilities in the $6 – $25 million category and was a joint winner of the 2023 Outstanding Water Project from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Hauck Mesa Reservoir Storage project-water infrastructure-award winning

Water Authority Construction Manager Emma Ward-McNally (seated left) receives APWA award for the Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir Project. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority/APWA

Strategic infrastructure improvements by the Water Authority and its member agencies are part of the regional effort to ensure continued delivery of water to support the region’s $268 billion economy and the quality of life for 3.3 million residents. As part of the asset management program, it is critical to actively replace and repair the Water Authority’s assets, which include pipes, valves, facilities, equipment, and other infrastructure.

Collaboration with Valley Center Municipal Water District

During construction, the Water Authority worked closely with the Valley Center community, Valley Center Municipal Water District, and nearby homeowners to minimize short-term construction impacts during the project.

The Water Authority operates and maintains a regional water delivery system capable of delivering 900 million gallons of water per day. Building and operating the large-scale infrastructure required to meet the region’s water needs now and in the future requires careful planning and technical expertise. The Water Authority uses a sophisticated approach to cost-effectively build, operate, maintain and secure its water facilities as an integrated system.

(Editor’s note: The Valley Center Municipal Water District is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.) 

Valley Center Has Grown With its Water District

Making the desert bloom. That’s what our local water district has accomplished in the nearly 70 years of its existence.

Although settlers first came to Valley Center in the 1860s, the town’s population stayed at just a few hundred people throughout the first part of the 20th Century. On the eve of the formation of the district, the population was about 900, according to the Valley Center History Museum. But in 1954 the voters of the community voted overwhelmingly to create the Valley Center Municipal Water District (VCMWD). From then on, the town has grown with the water district, which made it possible to grow to the population it is today, around 22,000 (VCMWD’s total service area population is 29,700.)

What made that all possible was the creation of the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) in 1944 and the completion of the 1st San Diego Aqueduct in the later 1940s’s. The Aqueduct’s purpose was to bring water from the Colorado River to San Diego County, from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (the “Met”) to provide something more than the area’s limited groundwater and streams that flowed during rainy seasons like we have had this year, but otherwise not so much.

Water Customers Will Need to Restrict Use Feb. 26

The Valley Center Municipal Water District has been advised by its wholesale supplier, the San Diego County Water Authority, of the following aqueduct shutdown.  The shutdown of the San Diego Aqueduct that delivers water to the District will be out of service for rehabilitation repairs and will begin at 1 a.m. on Sunday, February 26, through 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8. 

Over $63M in Federal Funding Announced for 22 San Diego-Area Projects

More than $63 million in proposed federal funding was announced Tuesday to support nearly two dozen projects across the San Diego region.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, said in a statement that the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations package that will deliver funding for 22 projects slated for the San Diego region will head next to both chambers of Congress for final passage.

Among the projects expected to receive funding in the package are:

— $3.45 million for the City of Oceanside‘s Loma Alta Creek Sewer Relocation, which will move a sewer main from a creek bed to a roadway to minimize environmental damage in the event of a sanitary sewer overflow.

— $3.45 million for the Smuggler’s Gulch Dredging Project, which will clear trash and sediment to protect downstream communities, and protect human and environmental health in the Tijuana River Watershed and coastal waters.

— $3.39 million for Borrego Water District‘s Borrego Spring Transmission Main, which will update the water distribution system and reduce water pipeline breaks.

— $3.06 million for the Valley Center Municipal Water District‘s Lilac Road Pipeline Replacement, which is aimed at reducing water loss and improving water conservation, among other benefits of the 60-year-old pipeline’s replacement.

Three Winter Aqueduct Shutdowns Lie Ahead

Valley Center Municipal Water District and its customers are long accustomed to dealing with periodic aqueduct shutdowns which allow the district’s sole wholesale water supplier, the San Diego County Water Authority, to inspect, repair, and make improvements to our imported water aqueduct system. 

However, this coming winter will be especially challenging, as there will be three consecutive aqueduct shutdowns in fairly rapid succession: (1) December 4 –14, 2022, (2) January 22 – February 1, 2023, and (3) February 26 – March 8, 2023.

At play is the fact that the three tunnels on the 1st San Diego Aqueduct (“1st Aqueduct”) need to be relined to protect the quality of the treated water traveling north to south through the enclosed aqueduct, and restore its operational integrity. The 1st Aqueduct serves five of VCMWD’s seven Aqueduct Connections, spanning the full length of the District’s 100-square-mile service area. Although VCMWD does have a connection to the 2nd San Diego Aqueduct (“2nd Aqueduct”), the 1st Aqueduct provides water to approximately 85% of the District’s service area. Completed in the early 1950s, the 1st Aqueduct began serving the fledgling Valley Center Municipal Water District soon after its formation election in 1954 and has served the district continuously for 67 years.    

Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir

Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir Moving to Completion

The San Diego County Water Authority Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project in North San Diego County reached a major milestone in late April when crews poured the concrete roof of the new prestressed concrete water tank. The major construction project, which began in March 2021, will improve drinking water supply reliability for the county.

The project began with the demolition of an abandoned steel tank, and includes construction of an isolation vault and an underground flow control facility, in addition to the new 2.1 million-gallon water tank connected to the Valley Center Pipeline. The project is expected to be completed by November 2022.

Improved flexibility with Hauck Mesa Reservoir

The new Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir will increase operational flexibility by balancing the flow of treated water between the agency’s first and second aqueducts as well as ensure water deliveries can be maintained even if power supplies are interrupted.

The walls of the new tank are about 60 feet tall, will be stained a forest green color to blend in with the natural landscape, and are made of prestressed, or wire wrapped, concrete. Construction Manager Emma Ward-McNally said that the prestressed technology “will maintain the tank walls in permanent compression, allowing the tank to accommodate seismic events while remaining watertight.”

Next steps for the project include the wire wrapping of the water tank, applying green-tinted shotcrete to the tank walls, installation of mechanical components within the flow control facility, system commissioning, and paving of the project site and access road.

Asset management

Strategic infrastructure improvements by the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies are part of the regional effort to ensure continued delivery of water to support the region’s $240 billion economy and the quality of life for 3.3 million residents. As part of the asset management program, it is critical to actively replace and repair the Water Authority’s assets, which include pipes, valves, facilities, equipment, and other infrastructure.

The Water Authority will continue to work closely with the Valley Center community, Valley Center Municipal Water District, and nearby homeowners to minimize short-term construction impacts.

North County Students Make Splash in Water District Contests

Local students floated lots of good ideas in the 30th annual Water Awareness Poster Contest, sponsored by North County’s water agencies. This year’s theme was “Love Water, Save Water.”

The contest for fourth-graders aims to increase understanding and appreciation for conserving water and using it more efficiently. Students showed ways they love water, how they save water at home, or ways to save or recycle water in the future to help the Earth. Winning students artwork is printed in the 2022 North County Water Agency Calendar. Free copies are available at local water district offices, usually by mid-November.

Water-deliveries-Hauck Mesa-Storage Reservoir-

New Reservoir to Protect Local Drinking Water Deliveries in North County

A major construction project to improve drinking water supply reliability in North San Diego County will start in February after the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors today approved an $11.4 million contract for the work to Pacific Hydrotech Corporation of Perris, Calif.

The Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project includes demolition of an abandoned steel tank, building a 2.1 million-gallon storage reservoir connected to the Valley Center Pipeline, and construction of an isolation vault and an underground flow control facility. The project is expected to be completed by winter 2022.

Infrastructure improvements ensure water delivery

Strategic infrastructure improvements by the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies are part of the regional effort to ensure continued delivery of water to support the region’s $245 billion economy and the quality of life for 3.3 million residents. The Water Authority just completed a $30 million series of upgrades on the historic First Aqueduct in North County to ensure these facilities continue to serve the region for many more decades.

“These upgrades are investments in our future,” said Water Authority Board Chair Gary Croucher. “Ever-changing conditions mean the work is complex and challenging, but continued vigilance helps ensure that we can meet our region’s water needs both today and for decades to come.”

As part of the asset management program, it is critical to actively replace and repair the Water Authority’s assets, which include pipes, valves, facilities, equipment and other infrastructure.

Operational flexibility

The new Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir will provide operational flexibility, enhanced system reliability for the day-to-day operations of the aqueduct system, and help ensure water deliveries can be maintained even if power supplies are interrupted.

The Water Authority will continue to work closely with the Valley Center community, Valley Center Municipal Water District, and nearby homeowners to minimize short-term construction impacts.

For more information on the Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project, go to www.sdcwa.org/hauck-mesa-storage-reservoir.

New Reservoir to Protect Local Drinking Water Deliveries in North County

January 28, 2021 – A major construction project to improve drinking water supply reliability in North County will start in February after the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors today approved an $11.4 million contract for the work to Pacific Hydrotech Corporation of Perris, Calif.