Background
The Nevada Irrigation District (NID) and Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) both serve raw and treated water to homes, farms and businesses in Nevada, Placer and Yuba counties in the foothills of Northern California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. NID supplies water to nearly 25,000 homes, farms and businesses in Nevada, Placer and Yuba counties while PCWA serves more than 38,000 accounts in several water service zones in Placer County. NID and PCWA have a total of approximately 600 miles of canals used to convey and distribute water. Water originates from high mountain elevations and is conveyed by gravity to both NID’s and PCWA’s service areas. Both agencies rely on canals, ditches, flumes and reservoirs, many of which were built in the Gold Rush era and which need updating and repair, in order to attain the CABY IRWM’s water supply, water quality and water efficiency goals.
Problems
Lack of System Redundancy
Recent emergency incidents, namely the Hwy 49 Fire of 2010 and the Pacific Gas and Electric Bear River Canal failure of 2011 demonstrated the lack of back-up supply options to many of the area’s homes, businesses, municipal treatment plants and critical facilities such as hospitals, medical and law enforcement services.
Solution
NID and PCWA serve adjacent customers with water delivery systems that are geographically isolated from each other. In the face of emergency situations such as those described above this project will complete the design and construction of emergency interties at Locksley Lane and Mt. Vernon Road between NID and PCWA’s treated water systems and provide the agencies the ability to move water from one system to the other to alleviate shortages experienced during similar situations. These emergency interties will provide necessary water and pressure to meet ordinary fire flow demands and also to ensure a reliable supply for drinking water and household use.
Unlined Canals
NID and PCWA operate and maintain over 600 miles of mostly open, earthen canals, which have an estimated loss of efficiency between 10-20% due to evaporation, seepage and other factors. Both water agencies have identified canal lining as a priority measure to reduce losses, improve water efficiency and increase available water supply throughout their systems.
Solution
In this project, NID and PCWA propose to coordinate their work to design, and engineer the lining of four miles (21,120 lf) of strategic portions of earthen canals used for raw water conveyance using previously used and successful shotcrete (air blown mortar) techniques.
Gaging Stations
NID’s system needs gaging stations in prioritized locations along its raw water distribution system to enable NID to improve water conservation and efficiency through accurate water measurement, increasing the ability to detect and locate leaks and reduce spills of non-recoverable water.
Solution
Gaging stations and reference staff gauges will be installed to provide better measurement along canal segments to better address points of leakage and water losses.
Water Efficiency Education
NID and PCWA will coordinate on water conservation education to minimize differing messaging and increase outreach potential. The education program will target residential, commercial, institutional and agricultural water users. Specifically, the project will:
- Increase awareness of the importance of water conservation among consumers in the region.
- Develop and implement a Water Efficiency Education Program Plan
- Develop regional outreach materials, events, seminars and workshops that focus on the practices of local consumers.
Current Progress: December 2016
All planning, design, easements and permitting are complete.
Locksley Lane Intertie: Construction complete.
Mount Vernon Intertie: Design and final plans complete. Construction began in 3rd quarter of 2016
PCWA Canal Lining: PCWA completed 1.18 miles of gunite application as part of the project match as well as completing gunite application on portions of canals including Boardman canal.
NID Canal Lining: NID completed 1.3 miles of canal lining as part of project match as well as applying shotcrete to 500 feet of the D.S. Extension Canal, and 920 feet of the Musser Canal and Doty North canal. Flume was also lined on the Tarr Canal.
Gaging Stations: Construction is complete for Wolf Hanaman, Allison Ranch, Riffle Box Canal, Sanford Struckman, Quincy Canal and Grove Canal gaging stations.
Water Efficiency Education: A Plan was developed in 2014. Workshops and School Assemblies have been held regularly throughout the District. School assembly locations include the following schools: Cottage Hill Elementary, Magnolia Middle School, Alta Sierra Elementary and Chicago Park. Booths have been hosted at the Nevada County Fair and Nevada County Farm Day. NID has also held regular Water Efficiency Workshops for agricultural customers.
Lead Agency: Nevada Irrigation District
Contact: Sue Sindt, Water Resources Superintendent, 530-273-6185, sindt@nidwater.com
Measurable Physical Benefits: Water Supply, Water Quality
Watershed: Bear
Counties: Nevada, Placer