PG&E recently reduced the Agency's 2021 raw water supply due to the drought. In order to keep up with demands, the Agency is currently pumping water from the American River and delivering it to the Foothill Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and the canal system. This requires the use of the Auburn Tunnel pumps located in the Ophir Road Pump Station. These pumps are typically only used during critically dry years, in emergencies, and during the annual fall PG&E outage. Upon recent startup, Pumps No. 2 and No. 5 were inoperable. With increasing demands as the summer progresses and with limited redundancy, it is essential to get both of these pumps operational.  Pump No. 2 was evaluated by Drinking Water Operations staff and they are currently in progress of repairing the upper bearing in the motor. In order to evaluate Pump No. 5, it has been entirely pulled from the 220-foot deep shaft and may need to be shipped to a pump repair shop. It is estimated that this work will take approximately two weeks to complete.

Mountain Cascade, Inc., (MCI), contractor for the Foothill Raw Water Pipelines Project, Phase 2, is currently working on the Foothill WTP supply pumps, also located within the Ophir Road Pump Station.  To expedite diagnosis of Pump No. 5, on July 16, 2021, the Agency authorized MCI under staff authority to remove the pump and deliver it to a site for diagnoses at an estimated cost of $43,921. Once the contractor diagnosis the problem, the Agency will receive another quote to repair and reinstall the pump. Staff recommends the Agency authorize the Director of Technical Services to execute a change order for all the work to repair and reinstall Pump No. 5 for a not-to-exceed amount of $300,000.  This will allow the Agency to accelerate the repair and reinstallation of the pump as quickly as possible.

Summary of Contract Value