Much-Anticipated Project at SVCW Scheduled to Begin in July After Four Years of Planning & Design

Artist rendition of Front of Plant improvements

The much-anticipated Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade (RESCU) program begins construction soon at Silicon Valley Clean Water (SVCW).

Beginning in July, SVCW will break ground for the Front of the Plant (FoP) facilities and the gravity pipeline tunnel, culminating four years of planning and design to rehabilitate the agency’s aging infrastructure and facilities.

The first activity will be the delivery and installation of piles at SVCW facilities at 1400 Radio Road in the Redwood Shores neighborhood of Redwood City. The work marks the beginning of a $412 million project that will modernize wastewater treatment for SVCW’s 220,000 customers.

The project is on 10-acres at the FoP immediately east of the Redwood Shores Dog Park and between the entrance road to SVCW and its gate. Work conducted during the July through September period will consist of pile installation necessary for the foundation improvements to be constructed at the site, followed by deep shafts to be excavated in anticipation of construction and tunnel boring machine retrieval.

Delivery of piles and installation will occur during two stages over the three-month period. Construction will take place between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and would be extended if needed, following a notice from SVCW to the community.

The FoP improvements that will follow starting in October 2018 will include the following and construction is expected to continue at the FoP area until spring 2022.

  • A deep, submersible pump station, called the Receiving Lift Station, will be built to pump the incoming wastewater from the gravity pipeline to an elevation sufficient to flow through the wastewater treatment plant processes.
  • A Headworks Facility will be constructed to provide coarse screening and grit removal from the raw wastewater. This process will improve the reliability of the equipment at the wastewater treatment plant by removing rags, sand, grit, and debris which damage pumps and other process equipment.
  • A new Odor Control Facility will treat odors from the Headworks and RLS.
  • The new wastewater treatment plant components will be connected to the existing plant processes via a new Influent Connector Pipe.
  • The Stormwater Pump Station will assure that all rainwater and stormwater that falls on the wastewater treatment plant site gets collected and treated, as required by the plant’s national permit.

SVCW will be setting up one or two webcams and making the link to the WorkZoneCam site available so the public can follow the project online. When the link is active, SVCW will share that link through a future notification which will be distributed monthly or more frequently as warranted.

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