ENR’s 2017 Top News Maker Award Winner: Susan Hou

Every year, Engineering News-Record (ENR), a construction industry magazine awards 25 people in the United States for their outstanding work in the construction field. To select ENR Newsmakers, ENR’s editors search the magazine’s web and print pages for individuals who had served the “best interests of the construction industry and the public.”(ENR Website). This year, Susan Hou, SFPUC's East Bay Regional Project Manager was chosen to be a recipient of this prestigious award.

Susan Hou

Susan joined the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project in 2011 and become its project manager in 2013. She has guided the team through many challenges. Through her leadership and collaboration, Susan kept the team on track.

Susan Hou with CDRP's Managment Team

Congratulations Susan!

See you around the Valley!

Come Join us at the Wildflower Festival!

The hills are green and the flowers are in bloom in Sunol. This is a perfect opportunity to come out to the East Bay Regional Park District's Wildflower Festival to learn more about the flora and fauna of the region.

When: Sunday, April 8, 2018 from 10 am to 4pm
Where: Sunol Regional Wilderness, 1895 Geary Road, Sunol, CA
Cost: Free admission ($5 parking)

The festival is a fun family day out. Learn about watershed animals, wildflowers, and grasslands. Enjoy the beauties of spring in one of the East Bay Regional Park District’s crown jewels at the Sunol Regional Wilderness. Learn more at tinyurl.com/yaxvvvsk



Stop by and visit us at our booth. Get the latest and greatest information on all of our ongoing projects. Flaunt your Alameda Creek Watershed knowledge and win a prize! Fun crafts for the kids.



We hope to see you there!

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!

Carpenters Hard at Work

Today’s photos were taken by SFPUC photographer, Robin Scheswohl, inside the construction project to rebuild our Sunol Corporation Yard, which is located near the Sunol Water Temple.

While on site, Robin caught sight of a few of the approximately 11 carpenters who are working to build the structures for the new hub of East Bay water system operations for SFPUC staff. 

Here's a glimpse of their hard day's work.

Carpenter welding steel framing inside one of our buildings.



Here's one of our talented carpenter’s welding a piece of steel.



And, here she's installing the steel framing.



The Corporation Yard will be home to our Water Supply, Treatment East Bay Operations and Natural Resources Personnel. Improvements are expected to be completed by the end of 2018. During construction, the Sunol Water Temple will be closed to the general public.

See you around the valley!

Sunol The Bobcat is Back!

In the late summer of 2016, our team found this cute bobcat kitten alone and abandoned on the embankment of the replacement Calaveras Dam under construction.


Image courtesy of W.E.R.C

Our Environmental Inspector, Bill Stagnaro and Geologist, Carrie Dovzak, arranged for the kitten to be transferred to the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center (W.E.R.C) in Morgan Hill, California. The W.E.R.C Center has a world-renowned bobcat kitten program. This program ensures that single orphans such as Sunol, as she was later named, do not become habituated during their time in care. They help socialize the orphan and reinforce bobcat behavior, such as hunting and stalking techniques.

Sunol was recently released, with the permission from California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and the Park Rangers.  During her release, she was given plenty of water, prey, and cover to help ensure her long-time survival.



Image courtesy of W.E.R.C


Image courtesy of W.E.R.C

Bobcats, also called lynx rufus, are found throughout the United States. They are nocturnal animals that hunt small rodents. Many people confuse them for mountain lions even though they are much smaller.

We wish Sunol a very happy life in her native home.

See you around the valley!

For more information on the Bobcat rehabilitation program at W.E.R.C go to: http://www.werc-ca.org/bobcats.html

Winter at Calaveras Dam

There is plenty of work happening during this winter season at the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project.  Although our construction team is not working on the dam’s embankment, they're keeping busy with other important construction projects that need to be completed before spring. Here is a glimpse of the work in progress.

Our team is working hard to construct some of the support facilities. Support facilities such as: the stream maintenance vault, the downstream toe electrical building and all of the electrical equipment are needed to operate the outlet works.


V34 Vault


Electrical Panels for Stream Maintenance Vault


Electrical Panel in Downstream Toe Building

Our team continues to prepare the left abutment foundation. Part of this job entails removing a temporary tieback retaining wall. This temporary tieback retaining wall was needed during the construction of the spillway to support an ancient landslide.



Tie Backs

During the past two weeks, our team has been working hard installing the last of our piezometers. For more information on our internal and external instrumentation, reference our November 7, 2017 and December 15, 2017 blog posts.



Drill Rig for Insturmentation



Piezometer

Our crew is working hard to finish these projects before the spring time. As you can see, there is a lot of activity happening in the winter months.

See you around the valley!

A Celebrity at the Alameda Creek Diversion Dam

There was a celebrity in our midst at the SFPUC's Alameda Creek Diversion Dam, the site of the Fish Passage Facilities Project. Field Biologist Chris Pattison spied this California Red-legged frog recently near the construction site and moved it to a safer location.



"Why is this frog famous?" you ask.

Could it be because the California Red-Legged frog (Rana draytonii) is a federally threatened species? 

Or that they are found almost exclusively in California?

Or that they were once a common meal for miners during the Gold Rush?  

Give up?

It has the distinct honor of being the Official Amphibian for the State of California. Read more in this blog post from 2014.

It is heartening to know that these really special frogs are still hopping around the Alameda Creek Watershed.

See you around the Valley!