Fish Passage Facilities Project Reaches a Big Milestone

The team working on the Fish Passage Facilities in the Alameda Creek Watershed Project had reason to celebrate this last week.

The goal of the project is to support the restoration of Steelhead trout to the watershed by providing safe passage around the Alameda Creek Diversion Dam.

Last week the project reached substantial completion. The fish ladder is in full operation and now allows fish to bypass the dam.   So, in honor of all their hard work, the team celebrated with a good old fashioned barbecue.

The team celebrating this accomplishment.

Members of the Watershed Division, Brian Sak and Scott Chenue helped move the project forward and will be managing parts of the project once it's completed. 

The Fish Passage Project even made the news. In case you missed the coverage:

KCBS Radio

KPIX Television 

Thank you to our team and our partners for helping move this project forward.

See you around the Valley!

Two Sunol Valley WSIP Construction Projects Bring Home Awards

In February the Northern California Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) bestowed high honors on the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project and Fish Passage Facilities Project.  Both projects are part of the $4.8 Billion Water System Improvement Program (WSIP).

The Calaveras Dam Replacement Project received two awards: Structures Award for Projects more than $75 million and the Contractor of the Year award for Dragados, Flatiron, Sukut, Joint Venture.























Sunol Regional Project Manager, Susan Hou and Manuel Morejon, Dragados-USA, Project Manager accept the Calaveras Dam Replacement Award for Projects more that 75 million.





















The Fish Passage Facilities Project received the Environmental Award for Projects $25 million but less than $75 million.


 

Eric Gee, Project Manager and Sam Gambino of AECOM accept the Environmental Award for Projects $25 million but less that $75 million for the Fish Passage Facilities Project.

The APWA was created in 1937. It’s a non-profit professional organization that serves professionals in all aspects of public works.


















APWA’s Awards Program was established to recognize outstanding individuals, groups and chapters representing the best in the public works profession.

In September all three projects will compete at the national level.

Congratulations to both the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project and the Fish Passage Facilities Teams!

See you around the Valley!

Spraying it Green

Most of us don’t give hydroseeding much thought. As it turns out, we at the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project do.

Hydroseeding is, in essence, spreading seeds over an area after the ground has been disturbed by things like the construction of a large dam.  It is an important part of restoration and erosion control.  What is cool is the way we plant these seeds.  What we call hydroseeding was invented in the 1950's and involves mixing mulch, seed, and water together to form a slurry and then literally spraying it on the ground. This mixture increases the likelihood of germination of the plants and it holds firm to sloped areas.

One of the best times to hydroseed is the fall, which is why our teams are spending a lot of time hydroseeding now.  Our hydroseed is a mix of native annual and perennial grasses and forbs that grow quickly and easily from seed. The restoration goals for the project include establishing native plant communities. The vegetation provides habitat for threatened species and helps improve water quality.

Here is a beautiful picture of the recent hydroseeding of Borrow Area B (BAB). The green color is not green grass but a natural dye used so the contractor can track locations where they applied the hydroseed. The color will eventually disappear until the vegetation begins to grow. 






And, here is a picture of the newly hyroseeded dam. You can see the hydroseeder (truck) spraying the hydroseed onto the dam's face.  The thick lines are straw wattles used to prevent erosion on the slope.

Here is a closer picture of one of our workers spraying the hydroseed onto a steep slope.

Now we just need a nice winter's rain to help the hydroseed grow. 

See you around the Valley!

Loma Prieta Earthquake Anniversary Week - The New Irvington Tunnel

Happy Friday

This week marks the anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. 

We've been blogging about the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's efforts to seismically upgrade our water system for many years now. The $4.8 billion Water System Improvement Program is more than 96% complete as of this writing. The water system that supplies water to 2.7 million customers in four Bay Area counties is much more earthquake ready today than it was 5 years ago. 

In honor of the Loma Prieta Anniversary week, we wanted to remember a post from October of 2013 when a crucial seismic project for the Water System Improvement Program achieved a huge milestone. Final hole through. 

Miners worked long hours in the New Irvington Tunnel .

The New Irvington Tunnel Project ,which went into service in February 2015, is a new 3.5 mile long seismically designed tunnel. We mined the tunnel from different directions, and the moment the two teams met underground to complete the digging is called Final Hole Through.

See the October 2013 Story here.

One of the three road headers that excavated the New Irvington Tunnel.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

See you around the Valley!

Calaveras Dam Embankment Celebration- Photo Friday

The replacement Calaveras Dam has reached its full height of 220 feet.

The month of September marked a huge milestone for the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project.  The new replacement earth and rock fill dam has finally reached its full height and is nearly ready to begin impounding water this winter. 

You might have read about it or seen it on the news.  We had many media outlets out at the dam on September, 21, 2018 to cover the occasion.  

Here are some photo highlights in honor of Photo Friday.

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Vice President Vince Courtney addressing the crowd.

Sharon Tapia, DSOD, Division Chief addressing the crowd.  DSOD or California's Division of Safety of Dams regulate dams in California.  They were a key partner in the construction of Calaveras Dam. 

General Manager Harlan L. Kelly, Jr., was joined by SFPUC Commissioners, SFPUC Deputy General Managers, and representatives from the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency to make it official with a ribbon cutting. 

Here is the entire Calaveras Dam Replacement Project Team atop the new dam.








The project isn't completed, however. The crew will work on completing the approach channel, constructing access and roadways throughout the site, restoration and revegetation, placing instruments, and installing gates and security systems. 

The overall project is 94% complete and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2019.

See you around the valley!

Meet the CAT-773

Our work at the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project wouldn’t be possible without the help of heavy equipment. Heavy equipment helps our team complete big tasks like moving 12 million cubic yards of rock and earth. Because of the size and scope of our project, we have the privilege of working with some big and cool heavy equipment on our job site.

On any given day we could have approximately 20 pieces of heavy equipment operating. Today I would like to introduce you to the CAT-773

Here is a picture of some of our equipment.

With a full load it can carry 100 tons of dirt or 200,000 pounds of material. This machine can climb steep roads and is very comfortable for the operator. It has a 12-cylinder engine that can reach 42 miles an hour.

John Rocca, Field Operations Manager in front of a CAT-773.

It’s a real life Tonka truck. We have a total of 10 CAT-773’s on site hauling material and getting the job done.

 This equipment belongs to our Joint Venture (Dragados, Sukut and Flatiron), our partners on this project.

See you around the Valley!

Photo Friday - Calaveras

Happy Photo Friday

Here are a couple of shots from the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project taken this week.

The dam itself is growing higher and higher on the lower left. A portion of the existing dam is shrinking lower and lower on the center right as crews excavate the approach channels. 

On the new dam itself, crews use large equipment to transport and compact the materials for the earth and rock fill dam, as well do hand work, such as vacuuming the foundation of clay core of the new dam. Why vacuum? To ensure a solid connection between the core and the bedrock and protect the integrity of the new dam.


Have a great weekend, everyone! And see you around the Valley!

Sikorsky 58-JT helicopter at Alameda Creek Diversion Dam

Our teams have used many different kinds of equipment to build a fish ladder and other appurtenances at our Fish Passage Facilities within the Alameda Creek Watershed Project.

This past Monday, July 9, 2018, however, was a first: crews used a Sikorsky 58-JT helicopter. Why? The project site is remote, and the item to be transported was large.

Specifically, the contractor needed to move a 600-pound electrical box to an abutment of the remote Alameda Creek Diversion Dam. The helicopter picked up the electrical box at the staging area, located at the cattle corral and then lifted it to the left abutment of the Diversion Dam, which is located on SFPUC-owned property adjacent to the East Bay Regional Park District's Sunol Regional Wilderness.

A Sikorsky 58-JT  Helicopter makes quick work of transporting a 600 pound electrical box to the Alameda Creek Diversion Dam

The operation took just 20 minutes.

The Fish Passage Project is located in Sunol. The goal of the project is to provide for safe passage of fish around the Alameda Creek Diversion Dam to support the restoration of the Steelhead Trout to the Alameda Creek Watershed. 

The Alameda Creek Diversion Dam is visible in the distance. The electrical control building is located to the left. The project is at 92% completion and is expected to be finished this fall. 

The project is part of the SFPUC’s $4.48 billion Water System Improvement Program.

See you around the Valley!

Attention Sunol Regional Park Users: Camp Ohlone Road will be closed to the pubic Monday, July 16th-Wednesday, July 18th.  Plan on using either Canyon View or Estes Trail  to get to Little Yosemite.

Meet Manny Yeboah

Meet Emmanuel (Manny) Yeboah. Manny has been an employee of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) for over 10 years. He started his career with the SFPUC's Bureau of Environmental Management preparing categorical exemptions and mitigation monitoring reports. Currently, Manny is an Office Engineer for the Fish Passage/ACDD project and a Project Construction Manager for the Sunol Nursery Project. As a Project Construction Manager, Manny ensures that the project is running on time, on budget and that the Contractor’s operations comply with the contract specifications, drawings and permits.

He and his team are responsible for constructing the first nursery project of its kind for SFPUC. The Sunol Nursery Project is a $2.2 million dollar project located within the Sunol Temple yard. The new Sunol Nursery encompasses 1-acre and includes construction of new water storage tanks, garage, office building, shade house and a state of the art greenhouse structure with a cooling pad system. The purpose of this project is to propagate plants for the Alameda Creek Watershed Center, Sunol Yard and other SFPUC projects. The project is scheduled to be completed by October 2018.

Manny enjoys his role as a Project Construction Manager. When asked about his role as a Project Construction Manager he stated, "It’s a huge accomplishment to be in this position, I’ve worked hard throughout the years and now my goals are coming into fruition with me running an innovative project for the SFPUC."

Manny is no stranger to construction projects. He has worked as an office engineer for over 6 years and has a degree in Urban Studies Regional Planning from Cal State Northridge. When he is not working, Manny enjoys going to new restaurants, working out, and spending time with family.

If you ever see him around the valley, don't hesitate to say hello.

What's the Big Deal about an Approach Channel?

We are building a new earth and rock fill Calaveras Dam right next to the existing 93 year-old dam (directly downstream of the existing dam as they say in the dam industry.)  As many of our previous blog posts have been tracking, we have been busy building the new dam, foot by foot, from the bottom up like a layer cake. A very large layer cake.

Our Calaveras cake is high enough now to allow us to begin to excavate out the approach channel to the new dam this week.

"What is an approach channel?" you ask. An approach channel is a breaching of an existing dam in order for its adjacent reservoir to come in contact with it. We will remove a portion of the existing dam (500,000 cubic yards of it to be exact) to allow reservoir water to eventually fill in the space between the old dam and the new dam. The old dam will look like a peninsula in the reservoir when the project is done. 

"Why not remove the old dam in its entirety?" We don't have to. Complete removal would be expensive, environmentally difficult, and not necessary to operate the reservoir. 

The start of excavation of the approach channel means that we have reached a high enough elevation with the new dam to safely begin carving out a huge chunk of the existing dam. It's a coming of age for the new dam, if you will. A significant milestone. 

Here is what the approach channel looked like at the beginning of last week.



And, here is what it looks like this week.




The channel will be lined with large rocks called rip rap to protect it from erosion so the channel will be ready when we start to refill the reservoir this fall.

Approach channels may not seem exciting at first glance, but we at the SFPUC are thrilled!

See you around the valley!

SFPUC Project Team Leads National Discussion about Dams and Ecosystems

In early April members of the Fish Passage Facilities project team went to Miami, Florida to present at the 38th United States Society of Dam’s (USSD) Annual Conference on behalf of SFPUC. This year's conferences theme was A Balancing Act: Dams, Levees and Ecosystems. It focused on the importance of environmentally sustainable water projects within diverse and sometimes fragile ecosystems.

Our Fish Passage Facilities team were selected to present their paper called "Fish Passage Facilities at the Alameda Creek Diversion Dam, Final Design and Construction Update."

The Fish Passage Project is located in Sunol.  The goal  project is to provide for safe passage of fish around the Alameda Creek Diversion Dam to support the restoration of Steelhead trout to the Alameda Creek Watershed.  The project is part of the SFPUC's $4.8 billion Water System Improvement Project (WSIP) to repair, and seismically upgrade portion of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water Sytem. Construction is expected to be completed in fall 2018.

Below is a photo of our fabulous four presenters: Eric Gee, Project Manager, Yen Ng, Engineer and Karl Tingwald, (former AECOM) civil engineer and Dan Wade, Director of Water Infrastructure Capital Projects and Programs.

We want to congratulate the Fish Passage team members for a job well done.

See you around the valley!

Memorial Day 2018

In observance of Memorial Day, our construction teams at the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project, Fish Passage Facilities within the Alameda Creek Watershed (within EBRPD's Sunol Regional Wilderness) and the Sunol Valley Long Term Improvements (Water Temple) will not be working on Monday, May 30th.

Here is a photo of one of our D4 Dozer's working on the dam’s core at the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project.



We hope all of you have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

See you around the valley!

Happy Infrastructure Week 2018

The Week of May 14 to May 21^st is national Infrastructure Week! This is the week where public agencies across the nation highlight the importance of our nation’s infrastructure, and the need to maintain it.

At the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, our ratepayers had the foresight more than 10 years ago to allow us to pass the $4.8 billion Water System Improvement Program (WSIP). The program has 87 projects, spanning seven counties, to repair, replace, and seismically upgrade aging portions of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System. To date the program is more than 90% complete.

A tremendous amount of work was done in the Sunol Valley to ensure a seismically reliable water supply for our Bay Area customers.  The Calaveras Fault runs right through the Sunol Valley. The Calaveras Dam Replacement Project is the largest WSIP Project in construction, but there have been many others. Here are the highlights:  

Alameda Siphon #4. A high tech pipeline crossing of the Calaveras Fault designed to survive an earthquake. Completed 2013.

New Irvington Tunnel. A new seismically designed tunnel to connect the new Siphon with new pipelines in Fremont. Tunnel brought into service in 2015.

Upgrades to our Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant to enable the plant to provide minimum demand to all of our 2.7 million customers on its own for up to 60 days. Completed 2015.

A complete new Bay Division Pipeline #5 to connect the New Irvington Tunnel to a new Bay Tunnel and the Peninsula. Completed 2016.

We've been posting videos on Facebook all week to highlight the SFPUC's efforts to upgrade your infrastructure. And at Twitter: #TimetoBuild. See the Facebook posts  here.  

See you around the Valley!

Sometimes Construction Methods Don't Change

Image courtesy of https://auto.howstuffworks.com/horsepower.htm

(place image here)

The photo below was taken in 1918-- when the first Calaveras Dam was being constructed.  These workers are excavating in the dam's foundation.  They're using using 4-mule carriages(4-horsepower) to do the job. Each power train (4-mule carriages) transport approximately 4 cubic yards per load at a speed of 1 to 2 mph. 

Fast forward a hundred years.  The photo below was taken at the new Calaveras Dam as workers were excavating the new core.  The workers in this photo are doing the same job with a Caterpillar Motor Scraper with a 450 horse power engine capable of carrying 30 cubic yards at a speed of 25 to 30 mph.

Although times have changed, sometimes the methods don't.  

See you around the valley!

The Building Blocks of the Replacement Calaveras Dam

If you are new to the world of dam construction, you might wonder what types of materials are used in building one.  Today’s blog will focus on what types of materials we are using to construct the new Calaveras Dam. Calaveras Dam is an earth embankment dam.  Earth embankment dams tend to be constructed of all types of geologic materials.

Calaveras Dam, July 2017

The picture above was taken recently; from it you can visually see the different materials. Let’s start with the middle and the most important material used in our dam, the core. 

The Core of Calaveras Dam

Zone 1 & 1A—aka…the Core

The core is made up of clay.  Clay is very dense and less permeable than most materials.  Our new dam will have a large core, which will help ensure that the dam withstands a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.  The clay used in our dam has been ‘borrowed’ from the south end of Calaveras Reservoir.

The core is taking shape.

Zone 1A- Core’s foundation

At the bottom of the core, you will find Zone 1A material. This clay is plastic, pliable clay, or another words, clay that has a Play-dohtm like consistency.   Zone 1A material is placed on the foundation’s bedrock and acts as a seal against water flow beneath the dam.

The core is the most important element of the dam and therefore must be protected.  We protect our core by using filters in both the upstream (reservoir side) and the downstream (dry side) of the dam to control the seepage of water and remove it safely from the Dam.

Zone 2 and 2A- Sand

Upstream zones are made of sand  (Zone 2A) and large gravel (Zone 5A)The downstream filters or chimneys are made of sand (Zone 2) and pea gravel (Zone 3).

Zone 5-Rock Fill

Further protection for both the core and filters is provided by rockfill shells. The upstream shell consists of hard durable rock because it will be submerged in the reservoir, Zone 5 material.  This material consists of metamorphic rock known as blue schist.

The downstream shell (Zone 4) consists of onsite material from a geologic formation known as Temblor Sandstone.  While this is a sedimentary rock, it tends to degrade into a gravelly, sandy soil and is best suited for drier conditions than the upstream shell.

Zone 6- Rip Rap

Wave action in the reservoir due to wind can erode most earthen materials.  Large durable rocks are placed on the slopes of the dam at the waterline to prevent this erosion. This is Zone 6 also known as rip rap.

Image courtesy of www.fhwa.dot.gov

See you around the valley!

Building Dams in Earthquake Regions, Part II

As Californians, we live with the possibility of earthquakes.  Here at the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project we are in the middle of constructing a new dam that will be strengthened to resist seismic forces and withstand a 7.25 magnitude earthquake.  Dam technology has evolved since we built the original dam in 1925. 

If you missed our first blog about the technology used in construction of the original dam, see it here. The methods used in constructing the new Replacement Calaveras Dam are very different. Here’s why.

New Construction Methods

We are using state of the art dam technology and engineering to enhance the safety of this large civil structure.

A Sound Foundation

Our director Dan Wade says that building an earth and rock fill dam is a lot like painting a house. You need to strip all the old paint off the walls to get to good wood. You need to prime the surface so it will hold the new paint. The very last thing you do is paint.  We have been doing the preparation for the building of our dam for 6 years. We have moved more than 7 million cubic yards of soil to reach competent rock as a solid foundation of the new dam. 

A cross section of the replacement dam showing the different zones. Green is upstream (the reservoir side), light yellow is downstream, the clay core is in the center, and the narrow yellow strips are the drains and filters.

Controlling Water Seepage

We have drilled the grout curtains (see our previous blog about curtains and blankets) extending more than 100 feet below the dam’s foundation to control water seepage. We have done even more work to treat the foundation of the core of the dam, which is made of impervious clay. Remember the drain blanket? That also is constructed on the downstream face (the dry side away from the reservoir) to control water. The new dam will have various filter zones and drain zones on both sides of the dam to control the movement of water so it does not compromise the structural integrity of the dam.

Resisting Seismic Forces

A wide core will help the new dam be robust. In addition, the materials placed in this dam will be compacted using heavy machinery.

Here's the dam being constructed as it looks now. The different zones are clearly visible.

The complete removal of unstable rock and soil to form a solid foundation, careful design and placement of filters and drains within the dam to control water, extensive grouting and sealing of the foundation of the dam, a robust core and heavy compaction of all materials enable the replacement Calaveras Dam to withstand seismic forces and serve our customers for generations to come.

Monitor our progress at building the dam here at sfwater.org/sunolvalley.

See you around the Valley!