System Rehabilitation

• 9 bay pumping plant
• Constructability evaluations
• Tight Schedule
• Constructed in dry-up period

Banta-Carbona Irrigation District’s lift canal system provides its customers with irrigation water for agricultural purposes. The 85-year old system provides a connection between the San Joaquin River and the Delta Mendota Canal (DMC). The system consists of seven pumping stations and approximately seven miles of canals and pipelines. As part of the District’s Lift Canal Rehabilitation Project, a new Pump Station 5 was constructed in front of the old facility to provide more reliable pumping capacity to the Delta Mendota Canal.

Dahl Consultants is serving as the District’s Engineer to develop and analyze alternatives for project rehabilitation or replacement. As part of this effort, Dahl Consultants developed a Pre-Design Report that included alignment analysis, constructability assessment, hydraulic and energy analysis, permitting evaluations, and a draft cost estimate and schedule. In order to maximize District resources, a cash flow model was developed to evaluate District income and capital expenses over different time schedules.

From this study, the District decided to move forward with a phased approach for replacement of its aging facilities. Phase 1 included a new pumping plant capable of delivering 200 cfs through a new 1-mile long, 96” pipeline (planned for Phase 2) connected to the DMC. Future phases will include additional improvements to the other four pumping plants as well as various canal improvements, thereby increasing and improving the capacity of the entire system.

Dahl Consultants completed the design and CM of the new Pumping Plant 5 Wet Well in 2010. The pump station needed to be constructed during the dry up period in order to maintain system deliveries. This tight timeline required close coordination between the District, Dahl Consultants, and the Contractor. Because this project is phased, the wet well structure was designed to include enough bays for nine pumps while allowing District water to pass through until system construction is complete.