The project requires coordination of LEE + RO’s design with the designs of the Matthews Transmission Pipeline, the Menifee Road Transmission Pipeline, and the Romoland Feeder Replacement designs, which others are preparing.
Background
Located in western Riverside County, Eastern Municipal Water District (District) is a public water agency. The District provides water, wastewater, and recycled water services to a population of nearly 1,000,000 people within a 558-square-mile service area. The District serves the communities of Moreno Valley, Perris, Sun City, Menifee, Temecula, Winchester, Romoland, Hemet, San Jacinto, and surrounding unincorporated areas in Riverside County.
The Matthews Booster Pump Station (BPS) and Pipeline project was originally identified in the District’s 2015 Water Facilities Master Plan Update (WFMP) to provide increased pumping capacity to the 1720L Longview Pressure Zone (PZ) and enhance Watson BPS suction side hydraulics. This project was also addressed in the January 2022 Potable Water Distribution System Local Reliability Study (Reliability Study). The required transmission pipelines for the proposed Matthews BPS are currently being designed by others under two headings: the Menifee Road Transmission Pipeline and the Matthews Transmission Pipeline.
Situation
The existing Romoland BPS is located at 27990 Ethanac Road in the City of Menifee and is near the end of its useful life. The facility is an in-line partially buried booster station equipped with natural gas engine-driven pumping units that have the ability to pump in either direction between the 1627 Perris Valley North (PVN) and 1627 Perris Valley South (PVS) pressure zones. The existing Romoland In-line BPS is operated in conjunction with the Murrieta Road In-line BPS, which is currently in the final design for replacement.
This project is critical to support ongoing development in the area, particularly the Matthews BPS service to the 1720L PZ. The District aims to have the Matthews BPS online by December 2025 or as close to that date as reasonably practicable.
The District owns a 2-acre site located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Ethanac Road and Antelope Road, south of the existing Romoland BPS. The District wishes to co-locate the proposed Matthews BPS and the new Romoland BPS on this site as a dual pump station and then demolish the existing Romoland BPS.
Scope of Work
The District contracted LEE + RO to perform the final design for the Matthews and Romoland Booster Station project. Services include preparing bid documents (final plans and specifications), cost estimates, and bid phase support services. The new Romoland BPS will have a capacity of 12,700 gpm. The new Matthews BPS will have a capacity of 10,000 gpm. LEE + RO will coordinate the designs with the designs of the Matthews Pipeline, the Menifee Road Pipeline, and the Romoland Feeder Replacement, which are being prepared by others.
Of the two pump stations, the Romoland BPS is, by far, the most unique and will require more analysis. It is not common to have a pump station pump in two directions, where the suction and discharge lines both need to be simultaneously reversed based on the District’s system demands. During normal day-to-day operations, the system requires water to be transferred and distributed from the northern zone to the southern zone. These two zones are the 1627 Perris Valley North (PVN) and Perris Valley South (PVS) pressure zones. Both zones have the same nominal Hydraulic Grade Line (HGL), but due to large geographic distances between these two zones, the actual total dynamic head (TDH) required to push the water either north or south will vary significantly.
The station’s flowrate demands will be seasonal, with higher flowrates in the summer and significantly lower flowrates in the winter months. During these lower average day demand flowrates, the system actually has enough head to allow the system to gravity flow from the north to the south. The project will be equipped with motorized valves to allow bypassing of the pump station during this operational scenario.
The existing system is operated manually. The determination of the flow direction, determination of gravity flow or pumped flow, and determination of the flowrate setpoint are all manually decided and set by the system operator. LEE + RO will develop a PLC control strategy to ease the burden of the District’s operation staff so that the system can be operated in a semi-automatic or fully automatic method.
The project objectives are:
- Provide a constructible and cost-effective design that is in accordance with the District’s latest standards and design guidelines.
- Provide a safe and accessible facility with straightforward and reliable operation.
- Identify and minimize the impact on the nearby community.
- Coordinate the LEE + RO design with the District's other design projects and other City/Agency projects in the area.
- Ensure a safe and properly sequenced demolition of the existing Romoland BPS.
- Complete the design based on the Districts timeline.
