From left, RMCI Foreman Alcario Sanchez, Superintendent Lawrence Acosta and DPU Project Manager Clay Moseley outside the new irrigation booster pump station at Overlook Park in White Rock. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
DPU Project Manager Clay Moseley shows the old irrigation booster pump station. The station will be repaired so the Parks staff can use it as their irrigation controls building. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
The new irrigation booster pump station being constructed at Overlook Park in White Rock is significant in several ways. Not only is it replacing a 40-year-old dilapidated facility, but it is the first full-scale integrated project that includes all mechanical, electrical, structural, and architectural components that the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) designed itself.
The booster station, which is near the wastewater treatment facility at Overlook Park, is nearing completion. DPU Project Manager Clay Moseley explained the facility will be tested in October. It is expected to be fully functional by November.
The facility is used to irrigate the fields at Overlook Park. Moseley said the treated effluent water from the wastewater treatment plant flows, by gravity to intake pipes and line-shaft pumps beneath the facility, and then the water is pumped out to irrigate the different parks.
Additionally, the booster station is operated by computer controls that vary how much water is needed to reach the sprinklers, he added.
Not only is the new facility an upgrade from the original station but it will help with water and electric conservation, Moseley said.
“It’s important to consider water and electricity conservation,” he said. “We designed the system to maximize performance, while minimizing loss. We are building something that we like and are proud of.”
Until the system is put into use, it is hard to say how much reuse water might be conserved; Moseley said water usage varies and it depends on what the Parks need, but the system is designed for maximizing the reuse water without watering with pumped groundwater. With electricity, the hope is to save around 30 to 40 percent.
Moseley pointed out that despite the unknown variables “every little improvement we make just chips away at the conservation picture.”
The project, which is budgeted at $1.5 million, is partly covered by a $800,000 grant from the New Mexico Finance Authority Water Trust Board. The County has a requirement to match at least 25 percent of the grant money. Moseley said the department applied for the money in 2019 and was awarded the grant in 2020. That same year was spent working on the design.
The design of the facility is significant because DPU did it in-house rather than to hire an outside engineering and consulting firm, which is what is typically done. “What’s unique about this is we did it all ourselves,” Moseley said. “We have a lot of experience with designing piping and everyday utility infrastructure, but not an entire industrial facility housed in a building, with all of the electrical and mechanical systems.”
He credits DPU Deputy Manager James Alarid for working with and overseeing the design team, and supporting staff to design large parts of the project themselves.
“With some of the great staff we have in-house, he basically said, ‘go nuts’,” Moseley said. “Of course, we had a lot of debates on how some of these parts work and fit together, but we worked it out and it’s been great to see it come together.”
During the planning and design phase, he said they pulled together all their knowledge and experience acquired during their collective careers and brainstormed with a lot of drawing on the markerboard.
Successfully designing such a complicated project in-house has encouraged DPU to continue the trend, Moseley said.
“It has been a bit of a springboard … we turned right around and did this with another project,” he said.
Moseley explained that staff has been working on designing a storage tank and mechanical systems for effluent reuse water from the Los Alamos wastewater treatment plant that is used to water parks and the golf course up on the hill.
Los Alamos is fortunate to have engineering staff that can design and manage projects at this level. Not many other public utilities in the state can independently accomplish this type of project without the horsepower of a design firm, Moseley said. He credited the quality of the staff at DPU as one of the reasons behind Los Alamos’ ability to design and manage projects in-house.
“We have really good people,” he said.
Replacing the irrigation booster pump station was necessary because it is old and has been used past its functional life. Not only has the efficiency of the pumps and motors degraded in recent years, but as Moseley pointed out, the electrical room that houses the motor controls has become shelter to rats and snakes.
“No one wanted to go in there, so we’re mitigating that as well,” he said. “We’re repairing that old controls-building so the Parks staff can use it as their irrigation controls building without worrying about what type of critter they’ll find in there.”
In contrast, this new facility is expected to have a 50-year lifespan and has been designed for future expansion. Moseley said the facility has two additional pump bays, which can accommodate future expansion to Chamisa and Pinon elementary schools to irrigate their lawns.
Moseley pointed out that White Rock is growing and the increased water usage will eventually provide the water reuse capacity for any future expansion.
The interior of the new irrigation booster pump station in White Rock. DPU Project Manager Clay Moseley pointed out that the pipes, seen here wrapped in black plastic, are really just the tip of the iceberg. They extend 20 feet down. He added that the station is fully automated, computers adjust how much water is sent to sprinklers based on demand. Additionally, the ceiling is painted purple to identify that this station is utilizing effluent reuse water. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com