FEATURED COLUMNIST
‘60 is the New 40’ — But Not for Pipeline Replacement
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o provide the community with highquality, clean water day-in and day-out, the Soquel Creek Water District takes great care in maintaining its infrastructure. The elements of this infrastructure include pump stations to wells, water meters to storage tanks, our buildings to electrical facilities, and more. Inspection, maintenance, and repair of these items is one of the core functions of the District’s operation, and all of those items are critical to how we accomplish our mission. Another critical link in the infrastructural system that we must constantly keep in great working order is the network of water pipelines throughout our service area. Without them, we would not be able to deliver water to you! One particular pipeline replacement project is anticipated to be completed later this fall — the Soquel Drive cast iron main replacement. For 60 years, the corrosive soils in the area have been literally eating away at the cast iron pipeline, leading to increasingly frequent cracks and breaks — most of which have been catastrophic, dangerous, water-wasting, and very expensive to repair. Although it may be true for humans, the adage “60 is the new 40” is not at all the case for old-technology cast iron pipelines. In fact, this particular set of pressurized pipelines has reached the end of its useful life — to be reborn as a brand-new water main to better serve the community. The replacement project began in October of 2020, with the goal of replacing 9,000 feet — about 1.7 miles — of the old, corroded pipeline with a new, up-to-date water main. The new pipeline “Immigration” from page 16 Such efforts have brought the fully vaccinated rate in Monterey County to 68 percent. Local immigration experts joined Panetta in answering questions. “We need to make sure the evacuation pipeline is kept open,” said Magnolia Zarrega, an immigration attorney in Salinas. She was born in the U.S. to Mexican immigrant parents who initially worked in the fields, took English classes, became citizens and now work at her office helping other people become U.S. citizens. For a question about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals for some 650,000 “dreamers” who came to the U.S. before their 16th birthday with their parents, Panetta said, “We also need to take care of our DACA
By Rebecca Gold Rubin
is made of PVC — not the PVC pipes you might use for your home irrigation, but much stronger industrial-strength C900 PVC. This is the thickest-walled, most durable PVC pipeline manufactured today, and it can have a useful lifetime of 70 years or more, while averting many of the aging issues common to cast iron pipes. According to Brice Dahlmeier, the District’s associate engineer overseeing this main replacement, “Many of these old pipes were put in the ground prior to the formation of the district in the 1960s and were not sized to provide adequate flows for fire protection. This main replacement project increases the watermain size from an 8” pipe to a 12” pipe, which will help increase the available flows from hydrants all along this corridor. These larger pipes also help with reducing energy costs, as our well pumps don’t have to work as hard to push water through a small pipe. While these energy savings are small, they add up over decades.” For the last year, the work has been taking place along Soquel Drive from Cabrillo College to State Park Drive, including work on many of the streets connecting to Soquel Drive along the pipeline corridor. Locals know this stretch of roadway is quite busy with many commercial, retail, and residential buildings, and lots of steady traffic. Crews utilized extensive, carefully planned traffic control measures, and also engaged in some night work in one spot to minimize traffic impacts. In addition to the pipes, four new underground vaults have been installed, containing pressure-regulating valves. Each of those vaults
is about 8’ x 8’ x 14’ and weighs 60,000 pounds. People driving by may have seen the craneassisted installation of these massive components. Our service area has quite a bit of change in elevation between our water storage tanks in the hills, down to the ocean. These pressure-regulating valves allow us to reduce pressure in the lower elevations, which protects our distribution system as well as our customers’ plumbing. This project follows a similar project completed in 2014, which replaced failing cast iron pipe along Soquel Drive from 41st Avenue to Cabrillo College. With the completion of this current project, the District is making progress on its “backbone” to distribute reliable water to our community for decades to come. District staff are justifiably proud of this complex project and the amount of people and agencies it takes to build a project of this nature. At the District level, our Engineering department designed the pipeline, handles the project management and inspections and our Operations department coordinates the water shutoff notices, safely decommissions the old main and conducts the flushing of the new main. Our contractor, Pacific Underground Construction, provides the labor, equipment, and expertise to build the infrastructure. The County Sanitation department makes sure we can flush the new watermains into their system without overwhelming the sewer system. The County Encroachment department manages our impacts to traffic. Not to mention all the coordinating with other utilities (PG&E, AT&T, Comcast, Cabrillo, sewer) for design and conflicts in the field and emergency response, when needed. It takes a village. Thank you to our customers for being
kids, dreamers…allow them to earn their citizenship.” He added, “It’s not easy. In July, the court (in Texas) found it illegal but allowed us to continue processing of applications before July 16.” The U.S. Supreme Court will have the last say. Immigration attorney Jeraline Singh Edwards pointed out DACA applications will be accepted but not processed until the Supreme Court decision. She has her own immigration story. Born in the Fiji Islands, she immigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1987, graduated from UC Santa Cruz and served with the Army National Guard in Iraq. A graduate of the Monterey College of Law, she is the directing attorney for immigration and citizenship for Catholic Charities.
Zarraga said it’s important for DACA applicants to respond to requests for evidence, not ignore it. “This is something that is monumental,” said Lily Ana Sturgis, an attorney with the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project, a program of the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County. Her focus is on family-based immigration with an emphasis on cases involving mental or physical abuse and those seeking assistance under the Violence against Women Act. Asked if farmworkers would be included in immigration reform, Panetta said the United Farm Workers had a seat at the table during negotiations on the citizenship bill. “It passed out of the House,” he said, with 32 Republican votes last year and 30
24 / September 2021 / Capitola Soquel Times www.tpgonlinedaily.com
Why is Soquel Drive in Aptos torn up? Because Soquel Creek Water District is replacing a 60-yearold cast iron main that has been prone to cracks and breaks due to age. patient with water outages, construction noise, and traffic delays. Our staff does an amazing job of maintaining the entire infrastructure of the water system. It’s a job that’s always ongoing, one that is crucial to the system’s resilience and reliability. And we know how important it is to you — in our most recent community survey last year, 91% of respondents supported investment in our water infrastructure to ensure a safe, reliable water supply. We take that very seriously. So, for us, infrastructure maintenance, repair, and replacement are not just tasks to be completed — they are fundamental responsibilities. We strive to ensure we are meeting those responsibilities by maintaining a system that our customers can depend on to get their water every day. n For a look at a map and information on this and other District projects, visit soquelcreek water.org/CIP. Republican votes this year. “In the Senate, unfortunately, it stalled.” He’s pinning his hopes on getting something through the budget reconciliation process. Ricardo Nunez, representative with the United Farm Workers Foundation providing immigration legal advice, offered to provide updates via text. “Text ‘Si Se Puede’ to 877-877,” he said. Born in Mexico, Nunez came to the U.S. in 1999 to reunite with his mother, who had worked in the fields since 1984. Nunez has focused on immigration since 2008. For a question about citizenship papers burned in a fire, Panetta said, “Call my office, 831-424-2229.” n View the White House description of the Citizenship Act: https://tinyurl.com/USA-citizenship-act
