Organized Labor

• University Mound, San Andreas Pipeline Part of $4.3 Billion Hetch Hetchy Seismic Upgrade

By Paul Burton, Contributing Writer

Two more projects that are part of the seismic upgrade work for the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power system that are covered by a project labor agreement with the building trades are currently underway in the city. Organized Labor recently visited the projects at University Mound Reservoir next to McLaren Park and the San Andreas Pipeline project near Parkmerced.

The overall Water System Improvement Plan (WSIP) involves 85 separate projects, including laying sections of redundant pipeline, to maintain water supplies for the SF Public Utilities Commission’s 2.5 million customers in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties.
WSIP Projects in San Francisco County alone will generate an estimated 1.3 million hours of work for building and construction trade workers, including electricians, carpenters, laborers, heavy equipment operators, plumbers and truck drivers, according to the SFPUC. The agency says that between now and December 2010, more than $1.25 billion in WSIP construction contracts will be advertised and be “shovel ready.”

The aging system is vulnerable to earthquakes and crosses five major fault lines capable of generating a magnitude 7.5 earthquake. The $4.3 billion project will seismically upgrade many of the pipelines, pumping stations, tunnels and dams along the system’s 167-mile long aqueduct that brings water to San Francisco from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The projects will provide work for the construction trades for up to 13 years.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and Bay Area and national building trades unions signed the historic PLA in April 2007 for the Water System Improvement Plan (WSIP).

University Mound Reservoir
The SFPUC held a groundbreaking ceremony for the University Mound North Basin seismic retrofit project Oct. 20, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

“It’s fitting that as we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake this month, the SFPUC is seismically upgrading the reservoir which served the City neighborhoods hardest hit in 1989,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “Today is another milestone in the progress we’re making to prepare the regional water system for the next earthquake and create new local jobs.”

The University Mound Reservoir is one of three terminal reservoirs of the Regional Water System that is located in San Francisco. The south reservoir was built in 1937; the north reservoir where work is now underway was constructed in 1885 and covered in 1964. Major water mains and pipelines extending from this reservoir were severely damaged during the 1989 earthquake. The seismically vulnerable reservoir serves the eastern part of San Francisco, including South of Market, Downtown financial district, 3rd Street corridor, and Treasure Island.

SFPUC’s Project Manager for the UMR, Azalia Merrell, a longtime member of Carpenters Local 22, said the project primarily consists of seismic rehabilitation of the reservoir walls and roof using seismic joints, shear walls, diagonal bracing, and struts and foundation improvements. She said the reservoir liner is being cleaned out to improve water quality. Merrell said the gravity fed system will have redundancy built in so that if there is earthquake damage to part of the system, there will be other pipelines to deliver water.

Carpenters Local 22 member Lance Terry, Superintendent for S.J. Amoroso, a union contractor, said that the seismic joints consisted of stainless steel braces where supporting columns meet the reservoir roof. These expansion joints will allow for lateral and vertical movement of the structure in case of an earthquake. Amoroso also did the retrofit work for the Stanford Heights Reservoir, which also included installation of new rebar-reinforced columns, new footings, and braces to allow the interior frame to move up and down or side-to-side one or two inches and dissipate energy in the case of a strong earthquake.

Other general rehabilitation includes repairing deteriorated concrete; replacing the reservoir lining material; replacing inlet/outlet, drain, and overflow piping; upgrading the floor liner, rim road, ventilation, and hatches, and replacing outlet and drain valves. Merrell said other site improvements include new landscaping and security measures.

She said the original deck under the reservoir is not reinforced. New reinforced footings will support a new moment frame with reinforced columns to support the roof. They will also have mid-level braces and stainless steel slip connectors.

The contractor and SFPUC representatives said that the project labor agreement is working well; they are happy with PLA, which requires payment of prevailing wages and hiring through local union halls. The University Mound project will include 30 percent local hires as part of the agreement between the SFPUC and the contractor, S.J. Amoroso. Amoroso’s Superintendent Lance Terry said all the subcontractors were union. He currently has a crew of 12 laborers, 11 carpenters and 2 operating engineers. Malcolm drilling is also on site with equipment operators.

Terry said 550 micropiles were also being installed. They are placed in Malcolm Drilling’s IDM drill rig, and the steel rods precision grouted and driven in around the columns. As with the job at the Stanford Heights Reservoir, the contractor could not use equipment running on diesel fuel inside the reservoir tank that might contaminate the tank from a fuel spill. The backhoes and skip loaders inside the reservoir must run on propane or electric power. Merrell said that Malcolm Drilling converted their drill rigs to run on biodiesel/vegetable oil.

The $46 million job is scheduled to be completed in two years, by June 2011

San Andreas Pipeline No. 3
Work on the San Andreas Pipeline (SAPL) replacement is taking place at three sites near Parkmerced. The project will replace an aging pipeline that is currently beyond repair and out of service with a newly constructed 4.4 mile extension from the San Pedro Valve Lot in Daly City to Merced Manor Reservoir in San Francisco. It will be connected to the existing pipeline at Sloat Boulevard, and then be connected to customer service connections in Daly City and San Francisco.

For about half its length, the pipeline follows the alignment of the Baden Merced Pipeline which has been taken out of service because of its deteriorated condition. For the other sections of the pipeline, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) chose alternative routes to minimize environmental impacts. Where the new SAPL alignment differs from the existing alignment, the old pipeline would either be filled with a concrete slurry mixture or would be capped. The project uses the open-trench method for most of the pipeline and a trenchless, “jack and bore” method at high-traffic intersections.

The General Contractor on the all-union job is Mountain Cascade, based in Livermore. Superintendent Tony Batista said the company has experience with many other major water projects, building pump stations and water treatment facilities, paving, and installing pipes. Mountain Cascade specializes in general engineering construction services including pipeline construction, pumping facilities, concrete structures, water storage, trenchless projects, grading, and paving. Their work includes the Mission Street Sewer in San Francisco and projects in Oakland, Santa Cruz, Concord, West Sacramento, and San Jose. Contractors for the WSIP projects go through a pre-qualification process that requires a demonstrated track record and a good reputation with referring agencies. Pre-qualification creates a level playing field for bidding and is a critical component in ensuring quality work in the field, according to the SFPUC. Work is being done under the Project Labor Agreement signed between the Building Trades and SFPUC in 2007.

Mountain Cascade currently has three small crews of carpenters, operating engineers, laborers, and welders from the boilermakers union on the job sites. There will be work for plumbers and electrical workers as the job progresses over the next 16 months.

The contractor has a boring pit located at the Crespi Drive round-about-circle in Parkmerced to allow crews to install the pipeline under 19th Avenue to Holloway Avenue. The pipeline installation at the intersection of Thomas More Way and Brotherhood has been completed and the trench will be covered by the end of November; it will continue north to the Crespi Drive site.

Crews drilled down 15 to 20 feet to install the 36-inch diameter steel pipe in a 48 inch casing at the Crespi Drive site. The existing pipeline that is damaged is four feet deep. Other work on the project will include pipe jacking underneath various intersections to minimize traffic disruptions, installation of pipeline isolation valves and vaults, manholes, monitoring stations, air valves, and security improvements. There will be three interconnections to existing facilities, five customer service connections, and six vaults. Crews will also remove the existing Baden Merced Pipeline and restore impacted streets and landscaping impacted by the construction.

Mountain Cascade’s Batista said extensive “potholing” was done to determine where utilities are located. He explained that, “Utilities come in and mark their lines and we find them to make sure they aren’t damaged during the digging.” The markings were apparent along Gonzalez Drive at Parkmerced where the pipeline will travel underground from Crespi Drive to Thomas Moore Way.

SFPUC SAPL Project Manager Susan Hou said the project is a critical and provides some redundancy if other systems are impacted by earthquake. She said work has to be coordinated with a number of public agencies like Caltrans and the City’s Department of Public Works, and private entities like two private golf courses (the San Francisco Golf Club and the Lake Merced Golf Club) the pipeline will go under. The golf courses will do their own turf replacement once the pipeline is done. Iris Martin Lopez, SFPUC Project Communications Liaison, said the agency has done extensive outreach to neighbors of the project to inform them of street closures and construction schedule, including meetings with Merced Manor Neighborhood Association members and Supervisor Sean Elsbernd.

Batista said the job was challenging because of the need to get the work done within a tight schedule while also ensuring the safety of the public living and driving near the job sites and minimizing disruptions. He said so far the contractor was able to strike a balance. He said having an all-union crew was important as union workers are, “better trained for safety and understand that the job entails more than just their craft—you also need to be aware of safety of the construction crew and the public.”

Batista and the SFPUC representatives said that the PLA working well and there were no problems with local hiring requirements or other aspects of the PLA. Batista said he had sponsored one apprentice who he said had made a commitment to stick with the job.

At a third job site at 19th and Eucalyptus, the contractor has another boring pit where pipeline was set to be installed earlier this month. Batista said the site also posed some challenges as it is near a busy intersection and down the street from a school. “We had to be aware of neighboring school and worked out our schedule to minimize impacts and safety concerns,” he said.

Once completed, the pipeline must be inspected and tested to comply with state standards for potable water before being put into service. Other work will include repaving street crossings, repaving parking lots where required, restoring sod or landscaping, and rebuilding driveways, sidewalks and medians as required. Work on the $32 million is scheduled to be completed by March 2011.

“San Andreas Pipeline No. 3 is part of SFPUC’s continuous efforts to improve the aging infrastructure of the Hetch Hetchy water system,” said SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington. “The new pipeline installation ensures the delivery of drinking water to both Daly City and San Francisco residents.”