Critters, Kids and Parents oh my!! All Tested their WSIP Facts at the Sunol Wildflower Festival

Community members and even an enthusiastic furry friend joined the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) team to learn about water conservation, local wildlife and the Sunol Valley Watershed at the Sunol Wildflower Festival earlier this month. Visitors to our booth tested their knowledge of WSIP facts by spinning the prize wheel to with fun prizes. In case you missed the Festival, here are a couple of the most challenging questions:
· How many gallons of water does the washing machine use? 55 gallons
· Why would we have injected more than 8 million pounds of cement grout into the New Irvington Tunnel during construction? To seal the tunnel heading off from groundwater intrusion

A special thank you to our partners at the East Bay Regional Park District and Alameda Creek Alliance for hosting this wonderful event.

Our furriest of friends learned about WSIP construction projects in Sunol Valley

WSIP staff quizzed visitors on water topics with the WSIP prize wheel.

Calaveras Dam Welcomes the US Society on Dams Conference

It is fitting that the SFPUC helped host the annual meeting of the United States Society on Dams (USSD) this last week in the same month as the anniversary of the 1906 Great Earthquake and Fire. The group finished their week of technical sessions and presentations on dam safety in extreme events with a field tour of a dam in construction.

That would be our very own Calaveras Dam Replacement Project. The project will construct a new seismically designed earth and rock fill dam right next to the existing, which will be able to withstand the maximum credible earthquake on the Calaveras fault.

The USSD Conference attendees peppered the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project Team with questions.  We appreciate that the SFPUC project team members, the Construction Management team from Black & Veatch, Design team from URS, and the contractor Dragados USA/Flatiron/Sukut Construction shared their experiences with their industry colleagues. 

Then the Calaveras Team returned to the current work at hand, which is continuing the major excavation work on the new spillway and stilling basin, as well as mechanical and electrical improvements to the new intake Tower.

When complete in late 2018, the replacement dam will enable us to bring the Calaveras Reservoir back to historic capacity, storing approximately half of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System’s local Bay area water supply.

This somber anniversary for the 1906 Great Earthquake reminds us to ensure our families are prepared for the next big earthquake. Visit 72hours.org, or http://www.redcross.org/ca/san-francisco/ to learn more. 

 SFPUC Project Manager Susan Hou discusses the critical upgrades to the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System

Project Manager Alberto Benlloch from the joint venture of Dragados USA/Flatiron/Sukut Construction points out to the tour the excavation work to-date of over 4 million cubic yards of material

Aerial view taken on March 23, 2014

Join us at the Sunol Wildflower Festival this Saturday!!

The Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) prize wheel is back and you only have a few more days to sharpen your knowledge before you spin the wheel at the 2014 Sunol Wildflower Festival. This year’s questions range from fun facts about your local slimy, slithery friends to where your water comes from and if you know the answer, there are fun prizes to win!

We look forward to seeing you at the eleventh annual spring Sunol Wildflower Festival this Saturday, April 12, 2014 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sunol Regional Wilderness. In addition to stopping by our booth, make sure to check out the scheduled nature hikes, crafts, live music and nature activities. The festival is put on by the East Bay Regional Park District, and co-sponsored this year by the Alameda Creek Alliance. For more information about this festival, visit their website www.ebparks.org.

The Last Butterfly Valve for New Irvington Tunnel

You know you’re making progress on construction when you start celebrating your ‘lasts.’ Last excavation to be completed. Check!  Last steel liner inserted into the tunnel. Check! Now we have another: the last valve to be installed underground.

And not just ANY valve. This is a valve that is 8 feet in diameter that will eventually divert water from the existing piping connections into the New Irvington Tunnel.  This Butterfly Valve regulates flow within the pipe with a rotating a disc within the pipe. When closed, the disc, or butterfly, completely blocks flow.  When open , as seen in this sample of a butterfly valve from a dam in Japan, the disc rotates one quarter to allow flow to pass by.

And operating this valve is no easy task. If you were to manually crank it closed (or ‘actuate it’, as our operators say), you’d need a whopping 400 revolutions.  Our operators use electric actuators for this very reason, and will be able to operate this valve remotely.

We hope to actuate this valve to bring the New Irvington Tunnel into service this Fall!

New Irvington Team installs final valve

Sample Butterfly Valve
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Calaveras Dam building a new and improved Spillway

Things sure look much different than it did in the early 1900s when the workers at the Calaveras Dam site were building the original spillway for the existing Calaveras Dam.  Today, we are building a new spillway over twice the size of the original.

Calaveras Dam workers rebuilding the spillway in 1933

Calaveras Dam workers today working on the foundation of
the upper portion of the new spillway

What’s the Spillway for?

A spillway is a structure used to control the release of flows from a dam into a downstream area. Spillways release overflow of water or floods so that the water does not overtop and damage the dam. When complete, the new spillway for the replacement dam will be approximately 1,550 feet in length and will be constructed using 40,000 cubic yards of concrete. Much work still lies ahead, but we are well on our way to rebuilding a critical feature of the replacement Calaveras Dam.  

Lined, Then Sealed, Then Delivered This Fall. The New Irvington Tunnel Reaches Another Milestone

Imagine an 8.5 foot in diameter steel pipe roughly the length of a tractor trailer. Now imagine gently placing it into a 14-foot tube the length of 1½ Golden Gate Bridges? Now weld each of them together from the inside of the installed pipe in less than two months.

Well, that is EXACTLY what we did. This week the New Irvington Tunnel contractor completed the installation of a total of 14,600 feet (2.7 miles) of the welded steel liner into the tunnel. The 50 foot segments were all installed from the Sunol Valley and transported with a customized pipe placer westward into the tunnel. This completes the steel lining for the entire 18,660 foot (3.5 miles) New Irvington Tunnel.

What’s next? More grouting! Our teams will mobilize in March to prepare the tunnel to place cellular grout into the space between the steel liner and the excavated tunnel. This will effectively backfill the space between the tunnel pipe and tunnel wall, sealing it off to prevent water from seeping into or out of the tunnel.

We plan to bring the New Irvington Tunnel into service this fall, when drinking water will officially be transmitted through the new tunnel. Final project completion of the New Irvington Tunnel Project – including above ground restoration - is expected in mid-2015.

The New Irvington Tunnel will provide a seismically designed connection for water supply for 2.6 million bay area customers. 

50 ft segments of steel liner being delivered
Photo credit: Robin Scheswohl

View of steel liner from inside of Alameda West Portal
Photo credit: Robin Scheswohl

Welding work taking place on steel liners
Photo credit: Robin Scheswohl

A Tale of Two Geary Road Bridges

It has been more than 80 years since the original Geary Road Bridge was built over Alameda Creek, connecting park users and lease holders to Sunol Ohlone Wilderness Park trails in the East Bay Regional Park District.  Over time the first Geary Road Bridge was unable to support the weight of large vehicles, forcing trucks to drive through Alameda Creek at that location. So, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission constructed a new bridge that recently opened to the public. The new Geary Road Bridge is highway grade, which protects Alameda Creek by eliminating the need for large vehicles to drive through the creek. 

The amazing contrast of the old and new bridge is depicted in the photo above that was composed of two photos shared with us on Twitter by @RHMImages, a landscape and rust photographer.  Thanks @RHMImages for the fabulous photos!