California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
Thanks to an extensive water system improvement project by Cal Water, customers in the Bear Gulch District — including the Portola Valley and the Los Trancos area – are experiencing better water pressure, stronger water system reliability, increased fire protection, and fewer road and trail closures. The project also included efforts to increase safety features in the event of a natural disasters, especially earthquakes.
According to Cal Water District Manager Dawn Smithson, the project consisted of demolishing two outdated pump stations, consolidating locations, and replacing the infrastructure with a more-efficient station. The two pump stations were about 60 years old and in deteriorating condition. One of the old stations forced increasingly regular traffic delays as construction crews worked to make repairs.
Due to potential earthquakes issues, the project also included the removal and installation of two miles of new 16- and 20-inch ductile iron pipe to help transfer the water throughout the system. Ultimately, a combination of articulating ball joints and expanding teleflex couplings were used, an industry first according to Smithson.
“This was no ordinary main installation as we had to cross the San Andreas Fault, twice,” said Smithson. “The fault line required us to find a method that would withstand a 7.8 magnitude earthquake so we worked with US Pipe to design something that would work for those purposes.
“Protecting our customer’s safety is a top priority at Cal Water,” said Smithson. “In addition to making major infrastructure improvements that will last for years to come, we are also putting several safety mechanisms in place to ensure we are prepared in the event of a disaster.”
The safety mechanisms included emergency shutoff valves and hydrants being installed beyond the fault zones to ensure overland temporary piping can be effectively used in the event of an emergency. The new piping will also ensure that the multi-use trail that parallels part of the district will no longer be shut down for Cal Water contractors to repair main leaks. Several new hydrants were also installed along the route to increase fire-fighting capabilities. A generator was also added to ensure the pump station will not lose service in case of a power outage.
