February 8, 2023 Minutes

Water Committee Meeting with Bureau of Reclamation

Progress of Fruitgrowers Replacement Gates and Transfer Ditch Projects

February 8, 2023 10:00 am

Present

Water Committee: Andy Wick, Niles Rease and Mitch Thomas (Dick Kirkpatrick absent)

Bureau of Reclamation: Philip Ipson - Safety of Dams Coordinator
Matt Bryner - Design Engineer
Jeff Sellers – Facilities Maintenance Group Chief
Josh Dunham – Design & Construction Group Chief

Delta Conservation District: Suzie Bilberry – District Manager

OCID: Jeff Widener – Water Supervisor
Dee Dee Lousignont – bookkeeper and administrative assistant.

Progress Report

Matt Bryner gave a progress report on the design for the new outlet gates, shaft and structure. He showed a drawing that depicts what is planned and he had some questions for the Water Committee for certain options.

Options to Consider

1. The plan is to use triple offset butterfly gates. These were chosen for cost effectiveness and long life. They are made of cast iron and have a brass seal. These gates will have a learning curve in order to learn how use to how to use them to get the flow correct as they will work much differently than what we have now.
   
   Jeff Widener had questions and concerns that were answered. He will get some contacts of people that currently use these gates so he can talk to them about how they like or dislike them. Andy was concerned with the butterfly gates restricting the flow compared to the slide type gate that we currently have. They are expected to be no more restricting than the slide gates. These gates will also allow the ability to turn out smaller amounts of water when needed. They will be relatively economic to replace and repair when necessary, but the life expectancy of the gates is good.
   
   The plan is to use the triple offset butterfly gates as proposed.
2. Whether to make the actuator on the regulating and/or the safely gates electronic or solar or manual. It was decided to make them both electronic to prepare for future improvements for a more automated system.
3. Electronic water flow measuring mechanism will be used even though the current use of the Parshall flume will still be needed to gage the levels
   
   A security system will be in place for the control house, but Andy would like to see more security to curb vandalism that is a problem
   
   There may be an ultra sound monitor in the pipe to regulate the water, as the current system for Circle ditch is not reliable.
   
   Within the shaft there will be lights at the top, middle and bottom.
4. The landing will be different due to not needing to climb in to the structure often, as most of the regulating will be done at the top.
5. A safety ladder and cage and harness will be installed for when someone needs to climb down the shaft or if someone must be pulled up the shaft.
6. There will be a ventilation switch to use when needed but there will be a circulation fan on all the time.
7. DMEA will be contacted to see the cost to electrify Circle Ditch for future SCADA upgrade.

OCID is still waiting for the first invoice to officially get the progress started even though the design is started and after the choices made today it will be finished by end of April. The invoice is expected to be coming soon.

The Safely of Dam Review should be smooth – the power pole is the only concern. Bids should be able to go out in the summer so that work can be started early November when the reservoir is at its lowest. Then the rest of the necessary improvements should be finished by the Spring of 2024. Once the gates are in place, water can be released and the other work can be performed while the dam is releasing water.

There was some discussion about the installation of an 8 foot coffer dam with a 100 ft crane, and the possible difficulties due to the ground moisture. OCID will try to have the reservoir as low as possible by November 1.

More discussion about how to deal with water needing to flow into and out of the reservoir during construction. If all goes well the construction will take 1 week, but 2 weeks are figured into the timeline.

The Water Committee looked over 2 Engineering proposals and chose to give the Engineering contract to Applegate which is a local company (Hotchkiss). Applegate will be notified soon so that what work can get started as soon as possible.

Suzie Bilberry will do the necessary task orders to get things started, contact the Engineering firm and contact DMEA for a meeting at the site to figure out the best route for electricity and possible cost.

Transfer Ditch survey progress is no progress as they have been concentrating on the Fruitgrowers gate project. Andy asked them to work on getting the survey going as well.

Notes taken by Dee Dee Lousignont.