Victoria Canal Intake and Pump Station

The award winning Alternative Intake Project (AIP) delivers water for 550,000 Contra Costa Water District customers.  The new Victoria Canal Intake & Pump Station project is located on Victoria Island which is part of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.  This facility has a capacity to pump raw water at a rate of up to 250 cubic feet per second and included construction of a 69-kV electrical substation which supplies power to operate five 3,000 horsepower vertical turbine pumps; an electrical building which houses constant and variable speed drives, a water quality analysis equipment programmable logic controllers.  Also included in the construction are removable fish screens, automatic gantry screen cleaning mechanism, log boom barrier system, twin hydro-pneumatic surge tanks with 5,000 cubic foot capacity each and 560 lineal feet of 72-inch diameter welded steel pipeline.  Unique project features included difficult foundation soils; high ground water; extensive dewatering system; open cell pile driven bulkhead wall system which consists of 18 radius bays and 17 tail walls; soil surcharging and 300 lineal feet of temporary coffer dam designed to withstand a 100 year flood.  The temporary coffer dam, installed 80 feet offshore of the Victoria Canal, allowed access for pile driving equipment to elevation minus 28 feet.  The concrete intake structure foundation was then constructed over 140 each 24-inch square concrete piles.  Due to environmental constraints, meeting construction milestones were imperative to the timely completion of this project.