RESCU Program

I am so happy that our Tunnel Boring Machine has a name.  Salus… after the Roman Goddess of safety and well-being (welfare, health and prosperity) of both the individual and the state.  A BIG thank you to Rick Einsiedl for his submittal and compelling essay on why our TBM should don this name. We anticipate Salus’ arrival next month. She will enter our country at Port Hueneme (from her birth home of Germany) then be put onto flatbed trucks to make her journey here. I am told that there will be at least 35 trucks carrying her up to us!  Yes, this is a grand and impressive piece of machinery! 

Our Front of Plant project is gearing up for above-ground work. Thus far, work has focused on all the below-grade installation of support piles and deep shafts (one of which will receive Salus when she finishes her tunneling efforts and the other of which will pump the incoming wastewater to the surface-level preliminary treatment facilities). We’re all excited to see the above-ground work begin, another big step towards realizing our ultimate goals. 

Last but certainly not least, our Pump Stations Improvement project is well on its way into design. We will be upgrading three of our remote pump stations which will cap all our efforts on our major RESCU program. 

Each of the projects has its own page on our RESCU website and I encourage everyone to dig in deeper (pun intended) to learn more.  

Finally, I want to note that we are on the brink of closing a loan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the federal government’s WIFIA program.  WIFIA = Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act passed in 2014. We are extremely excited to be able to take advantage of this program as it provides SVCW and all its ratepayers with very attractive interest rates and terms.  More on this in my next column…