Construction of first Inland Feeder tunnel, pipeline sections approved.LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 1997--Initiating construction of one of the largest new water lines to be built in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, in nearly three decades, Metropolitan Water District's board of directors Tuesday awarded two contracts for the Inland Feeder. ``Passing unseen under mountains and rivers, and across broad valleys, the Inland Feeder is a critical component of Southern California's water delivery system,'' said MWD MWD Metropolitan Water District of Southern California MWD Measurement While Drilling (oil drilling) MWD Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (stock symbol) MWD Molecular Weight Distribution MWD Military Working Dog General Manager John R. Wodraska. ``Combined with our Eastside Reservoir Project in Riverside County, the Inland Feeder forms the foundation of our comprehensive efforts to assure dependable water supplies well into the next century,'' Wodraska said. Consisting of 43.7 miles of 12-foot-diameter tunnels and pipelines, the Inland Feeder will connect the State Water Project in San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. County with MWD's Colorado River Colorado River River, south-central Argentina. Its major headstreams, the Grande and Barrancas rivers, flow southward from the Andes Mountains and meet to form the Colorado near the Chilean border. It flows southeastward across northern Patagonia and the southern Pampas. Aqueduct in Riverside County. Tuesday's board action authorizes construction of the project's first tunnel and pipeline sections in San Bernardino County. Once all nine sections of the project are completed in 2004, the $1.2 billion Inland Feeder will more than double MWD's water delivery capacity from the east branch of the state project through Lake Silverwood, providing the Southland with up to 650 million gallons of additional water a day. MWD Chief Engineer Gary M. Snyder called the project one of the biggest new water lines to be built in Southern California since construction of State Water Project facilities in the late 1960s. ``It will allow the district to move and store large volumes of water during a relatively short period of time, especially when supplies are abundant on the state system,'' Snyder said. ``The recent storms that swept though Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern illustrated the advantage of having the Inland Feeder and new reservoir,'' Snyder said. ``When those facilities are online, Southern California will be better able to ship and store water that is now lost during high flows.'' The feeder will begin in the Devil Canyon area north of the city of San Bernardino and tie into Metropolitan's Colorado River Aqueduct and Eastside Pipeline south of Lake Perris Lake Perris State Recreation Area, or simply Lake Perris, is a reservoir that was completed in 1973. It is the southern terminus of the California State Water Project. It is situated in a mountain-rimmed valley between Moreno Valley, and Perris. , near the city of San Jacinto San Jacinto, river, c.130 mi (210 km) long, rising in SE Texas as the West Fork and flowing S to Galveston Bay. Its chief tributary is Buffalo Bayou, and both the bayou and the lower river are used for the Houston ship channel. . One of the two contracts -- totaling more than $91 million -- awarded Tuesday calls for the mining of a 5.2-mile-long tunnel under the San Bernardino Mountains San Bernardino Mountains, part of the Coast Range, S Calif., extending c.60 mi (100 km) NW and SE through San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Notable peaks are San Bernardino Mt. (10,630 ft/3,240 m) and Mt. San Gorgonio (11,485 ft/3,501 m). . Metropolitan's board contracted with Shank/Balfour Beatty, a joint venture based in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , for $88.4 million to complete a tunnel segment from City Creek in the city of Highland to the Arrowhead Springs area north of the city of San Bernardino. Tunnel construction at depths of up to 1,700 feet under ground is expected to begin in late February/early March and last about five years. The project's first section of 12-foot-diameter pipeline will be installed by Calimesa-based Kenko Inc., under a separate $3.29 million contract awarded by the MWD board. Under the contract, a 3,400-foot section of fabricated fab·ri·cate tr.v. fab·ri·cat·ed, fab·ri·cat·ing, fab·ri·cates 1. To make; create. 2. To construct by combining or assembling diverse, typically standardized parts: steel pipeline will be placed below Opal Avenue in the San Bernardino County community of Mentone, adjacent to the site of the East Valley High School being built by the Redlands Unified School District The Redlands Unified School District serves the city of Redlands, California and the surrounding communities of Mentone, Forest Falls, Loma Linda, the eastern half of Highland, and the eastern edge of San Bernardino, in San Bernardino County. Total enrollment is 21,170. . At the request of the school district and San Bernardino County Transportation and Flood Control Department, the pipeline is expected to be completed before the new school opens this fall. Carrying raw water, the Inland Feeder will be an important source of water for several MWD reservoirs, including the Eastside Reservoir Project, the 4,500-acre lake the district is building in southwestern Riverside County. In addition, the line will help replenish the region's local groundwater basins and upgrade water quality by allowing more uniform blending of MWD's source waters from Northern California and the Colorado River. The Metropolitan Water District is a regional water agency that imports water from Northern California and the Colorado River, and delivers it on a wholesale basis to the coastal plain of Southern California. Through its 27 member public agencies, the district provides almost 60 percent of the water used by nearly 16 million people living in portions of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and Ventura counties. CONTACT: Metropolitan Water District, Los Angeles Bob Gomperz, 213/217-6866 (office) 818/797-5478 (home) rgomperz@mwd.dist.ca.us or Bob Muir, 213/217-6930 (office) 714/879-7478 (home) rmuir@mwd.dst.ca.us or Rob Hallwachs, 213/217-6450 (office) 818/398-7697 (home) rhallwachs@mwd.dst.ca.us or Sal Vazquez, 213/217-6752 (office) 818/951-4364 (home) svazquez@mwd.dst.ca.us or http://www.mwd.dst.ca.us |
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