Less than 1,000 feet to go!

It’s an exciting time here for the New Irvington Tunnel Project team.  As of August 14th, we have 886 feet of mining left to go!  The hole-through of the entire 18,860 ft tunnel is expected sometime this Fall 2013.  After we hole-through, construction is not quite done yet.  Miners will start preparing the tunnel for the installation of 8.5 ft diameter steel pipe, installed in 50-foot sections and welded together inside of the tunnel. We anticipate final completion of the New Irvington Tunnel at the end of 2014. Upon completion of the seismically-upgraded New Irvington Tunnel, the SFPUC will take the existing tunnel out of service for an inspection to assess the need for future maintenance and repairs.

We plan on hosting an Open House for the project on September 25, 2013.  All are invited to see our tunnel progress and project updates. Stay tuned for the invite!

For more information on the New Irvington Tunnel Project, subscribe to our blog, or call our 24 hour answer line at 866-973-1476 or email mle@sfwater.org

Tunnel workers pouring invert concrete

Vargas East Final Steel Liner looking west

Did you feel that shake?

We sure did here out in Sunol Valley at our construction sites!  A small earthquake struck on July 15, 2013 at 12:02 p.m., which measured at a 3.4 magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

According to the USGS, the epicenter was located 7 miles east of Milpitas and 9 miles northeast of San Jose, at a depth of 5.3 miles below ground.  The earthquake was triggered by the Calaveras Fault. This active fault is located near to, or in some cases underneath, crucial water infrastructure in the Sunol Valley, including: the  existing Calaveras Dam,  the treatment plant that filters water from the valley for our customers, the pump station that transmits water to and from the plant, and the major pipelines that transmit water from the Sierra Nevada and the Alameda Watershed to our Bay Area customers.

Why does this matter?

This is a reminder to us why our work to seismically upgrade these crucial water transmission facilities through the Water System Improvement Program is so important.  We work every day to ensure that we can provide water to our customers within 24 hours after an earthquake.

·         We recently constructed a fourth seismically-designed pipeline that crosses the Calaveras Fault to survive after an earthquake

·         We completed seismic upgrades to the nearby San Antonio Pump Station

·         Upgrades to the Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant are nearly complete.

·         Construction of the New Irvington Tunnel and a replacement Calaveras Dam are underway.

Our system is more reliable today than it was 10 years ago. And it will be much more reliable, still, 10 years from now.

We hope that the earthquake we are planning for never happens. But if it does, we will be ready!  To learn how to make yourself and your family ready, visit 72hours.org

Crews completed work on the Alameda Siphon #4 Project in 2010, which crosses directly over traces of the Calaveras Fault.

The New Irvington Tunnel will provide us a new 3.5 mile seismically upgraded tunnel.  Workers are seen here standing a set in the new tunnel and expect final tunnel hole-thru this Fall 2013 with completion at the end of 2014.

Calaveras Dam is being replaced to provide a new earth and rock fill dam restoring the historic storage capacity of the dam to 96,850 acre feet (31 billion gallons of water) and will withstand a credible earthquake from the Calaveras fault. 

 

During construction at the Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant, crews drilled almost 1,200 piers underneath the new treated water reservoir to anchor it into the hillside in case of an earthquake on the nearby Calaveras fault.

 

Celebrating Summer at the Sunol Water Temple

With the sun shining, a soft breeze moving through the Valley and the Sunol Water Temple as the backdrop…. it was the perfect June afternoon in Sunol. For those who stopped by to join us, it was not only a chance to socialize with neighbors, but an opportunity to engage in lively conversations with SFPUC team members about the construction work in the Valley. Guests were able to play with rock samples from the Calaveras Dam, learn about future fire system upgrades for the town, marvel at historic photos of the Valley, check out a conceptual model of the proposed future Watershed Center, and even test their knowledge of the Valley by answering a trivia question to win a prize!

Thank you to those who were able to attend our summer open house! See you all around the Sunol Valley!

Calaveras Dam Project Continues to Dig Away

Today the Calaveras Dam workers celebrated yet another milestone since construction began in August 2011.  Over 3 million cubic yards of soils and rock have been excavated to make room for the replacement dam.  The team enjoyed lunch on top of one of the disposal sites, where they have moved and compacted nearly 20% of the 3 million cubic yards of materials. 

Imagine the weight of 96 fully loaded Titanic ships--- this is the approximate equivalent weight of the 3 million cubic yards of soils and rock that have been excavated and moved to disposal sites around the project. 

By the end of the project, the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project will have moved more than 9 million cubic yards of soils and rock.  About 3.5 million cubic yards of the materials will be used in the construction of the new dam, while the remainder will be disposed of onsite.  As we celebrate today, we still have a lot of heavy moving to look forward to!

Calaveras Dam workers are acknowledged by Earthwork Superintendent Sam Aiello for moving over 3 Million Cubic Yards

View of the Calaveras Dam foundation today
where major excavation has taken place to make room
for the future replacement dam

Series #2 Do you Know Your Tap Water? – Local Waters

Second in our series of ‘Do you know your tap water’, begs the question, OK, 85% from Hetch Hetchy, straight through the Sunol Valley to our customers… but what about the rest?

 
The rest of the water supply comes from local reservoirs. In the Sunol Valley that includes two: Calaveras and San Antonio Reservoirs. Calaveras, when full, is our system’s second largest drinking water reservoir, second only to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It also stores only local watershed waters from the Arroyo Hondo and Alameda Creek. San Antonio Reservoir, on the other hand, stores water from San Antonio Creek, and we can also store Hetch Hetchy water there as well.
 

Calaveras Reservoir, shown here prior to the start of construction of the Replacement Calaveras Dam, stores local water only.

 San Antonio Reservoir Stores both Local Watershed Waters and Hetch Hetch Hetchy Water

We must filter the water from these local reservoirs at our Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant before we send it to our customers.

Some facts about local dams and reservoirs that you may not know:

• The dam at San Antonio Reservoir is called Turner Dam, after former SFPUC General Manager, James H. Turner.

Turner Dam

• When originally constructed in 1925, Calaveras Dam was the largest earth-fill dam in the world.

Existing Calaveras Dam. The New dam is being constructed directly downstream of the existing one. The site looks very different today!

 

• Both reservoirs support habitat for many rare and endangered species. Each reservoir also has a nesting pair of bald eagles. Learn more about them here.

Catch up on the Do you know your Tap Water series.

See you around Sunol Valley!



Join Us at the Summer Open House!

Summer Open House at the Sunol Water Temple

We would love to show you our progress on projects in and around the Sunol Valley, including water system upgrades, watershed environmental improvements, plans for the fire system upgrades and the latest plans for the Watershed Center to name a few. We hope to see you there!

When: Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Where: Sunol Water Temple (505 Paloma Way Sunol, CA 94586)
What: Enjoy light refreshments, see photos and updates of ongoing SFPUC work in the Sunol Valley and talk with team members
Info: For more information, please call (866) 973-1476 or email epowell@sfwater.org.

Our Resident Bald Eagles

The land that we own in the Southern Alameda Creek Watershed has been protected for over a century.  By controlling the activities on our watershed lands, we ensure top water quality for our customers and preserve prime habitat for rare and endangered species. The 36,000 acres the SFPUC owns have become an oasis.

These lands are home to all sorts of plants, insects, and critters, including the Most Beautiful Jewel Flower, Callippe Silverspot Butterfly, California Tiger Salamander, California Red-Legged Frog, Alameda Whipsnake, Golden Eagles, and not one, but two nesting pairs of Bald Eagles.

Interestingly, both eagle pairs nest not far from our ongoing construction projects at Calaveras Dam and at the habitat restoration project at San Antonio Reservoir.

Our environmental teams monitor the eagles’ success annually and establish a wide “No Disturbance” boundary around the eagle nests, in coordination with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to avoid aggravating nesting bald eagles. During nesting season, teams closely monitor the eagles’ activity around both reservoirs to ensure our construction work does not affect nesting birds. We go to great lengths to ensure that these special animals continue to thrive.

 

We are proud to announce that the eaglets (two at Calaveras and two at San Antonio) of both eagle pairs are very close to fledging!  The young eagles will continue to receive care from the parents for a while before exploring new territories on their own.  The parents – soon to be “empty nesters”  – will likely stay in the neighborhood to take advantage of the plentiful food source and relative isolation and protection the southern Alameda Creek watershed provides.

Calaveras Reservoir Bald Eagles
Photo permission courtesy of Tam Phan

Calaveras Reservoir Eaglet takes flight
Photo courtesy of Bill Stagnaro, Environmental Inspector

Environmental Compliance Manager Cullen Wilkerson and Specialty Environmental  Monitor Aaron Sunshine survey our Bald Eagles

Calaveras Reservoir Eaglet soars through Sunol Valley
Photo courtesy of Bill Stagnaro, Environmental Inspector

For more project information, contact us at our 24 hour answer line at (866) 973-1476 or email mle@sfwater.org