$41.5 million for Reclamation upgrades

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's aging water storage, diversion and delivery facilities in the Yuma area have gotten a badly needed boost - $41.5 million worth - in federal stimulus funds.

That's the total for 14 projects in the area to be funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, said Maria Ramirez, assistant area manager for Reclamation. That includes one project that has been completed, eight for which contracts have been awarded and five pending projects.

Reclamation has had water management facilities since the early 1900s to provide Colorado River water to farms and communities in the Yuma area and Imperial Valley, she said.

"Much of this infrastructure – canals, roadways, pumps, groundwater wells and water control structures – needs to be repaired or replaced," Ramirez said. "But restricted budgets have limited the work that has been done. Recovery Act funding will allow this much needed work to be accomplished."

The projects will increase the system's efficiency and reliability, reduce operation and maintenance costs and address safety issues from the aging infrastructure, she said. They also will conserve the resource for users in Arizona, California and Nevada.

And while the contracts went to bidders outside the Yuma area, in many cases local subcontractors are finding work on the projects. The projects also are creating local jobs, Ramirez said.

That's especially true for one project that is well under way: the replacement of old and cracked concrete panels for two channels used to carry groundwater pumped from the Gila Valley south of Highway 95 to the Colorado River. In the process, the channels also are being made wider and deeper so they can carry more water.

The $2.9 million contract was awarded last fall to a Chandler contractor who is using local subcontractors and labor to complete the project, she said. One channel is completed and the second is nearly finished.

It's too early to say whether local subcontractors will find work on a dredging project of Imperial Dam and Laguna Basin, Ramirez said, as the contract was just awarded to CJW out of Anaheim for $11.8 million. The project is expected to be completed in May or June of 2011.

Dredging was last done about five years ago and sediment has built up, reducing the dam's storage capacity and water delivery efficiency, Ramirez said. The project calls for dredging 1.2 million cubic yards of material from Imperial Dam and 600,000 cubic yards from the Laguna Basin

Another $1.8 million is being used to replace five of the six hydraulic pumps at Senator Wash, she said. The reservoir was constructed in 1966 to improve water scheduling of the Colorado River for agricultural purposes, Ramirez said.

Water released from Parker Dam typically takes three days to arrive at Imperial Dam. During that time, water user demand and weather conditions often change, she explained. This excess water is pumped into the Senator Wash Reservoir for storage until it is needed.

In yet another project, $1.2 million in stimulus money is going toward repaving Reclamation's Yuma office complex and the levee road, she said. The work is expected to start in two or three weeks and reuse existing materials through an asphalt milling process, making this a "green" project.

A $1.5 million contract was awarded to a Las Vegas contractor in late February to replace a structure on the Main Outlet Canal used to divert water to the Gila River that in turn joins the Colorado River, Ramirez said. "This is a very old structure and we haven't been able to control water flows to the river."

Also just awarded is a $492,000 contract for design work to make improvements to the Yuma Mesa conduit, built in 1970 that now is operating at below capacity, Ramirez said.

Through an intergovernmental agreement with the Federal Highway Administration, Reclamation is proceeding with a $4.5 million project to replace a bridge in the Cibola Wildlife Refuge that now has limited access because of its condition, she said.

A $2.8 million contract was just awarded to an Ehrenberg company to redrill 21 groundwater wells in the Yuma Valley, South Gila Valley and Yuma Mesa that are about 30 years old, Ramirez said.

The completed stimulus project was a cleanup of the old marina and playground area at the North Shore RV Park by the Salton Sea, where abandoned trailers, trash and debris had become a safety hazard as well as eyesore, she said. Cost of that project was $109,000.

The five pending projects include fencing around stockpile areas, reconstruction of the Main Outlet Canal extension by Morales Dam, purchase of a new dredge, replacing 21 silt density instruments at the Reclamation plant and bringing the office up to seismic standards.