The San Gabriel River Water Committee (SGRWC) was formed in 1889 and has evolved into an organization consisting of Azusa Light & Water, City of Glendora, California American Water Company, and Covina Irrigating Company. SGRWC’s purpose is to protect the San Gabriel River as a valuable natural resource and administer the division of the River’s water supply to member agencies.
With the help of Civiltec design engineers, SGRWC proposed constructing a new River Gate Inlet structure near the existing Azusa-Duarte Tunnel Inlet. The project will allow for continued water delivery service and improve management of the existing water flow.
The project scope includes replacement of the existing weir board structures with slide gates and titling weir gates and construction management of the installation. The project will replace three existing weirs and will include a new motorized weir gate with controls and communication equipment. The new system will increase the water capacity at the inlet, ditch, and flow control structures.
Once installed, the gates will allow the SGRWC to move river water more effectively to local surface water treatment plants, which will ultimately produce drinking water. The original Azusa-Duarte Tunnel Inlet structure will be made inoperable.
SGRWC contracted Civiltec to provide construction management of this work in mid 2018. However, since late October 2018, water releases by the Metropolitan Water District and the County of Los Angeles have postponed the installation of the gates. Additionally, in February 2019, rainfall in the San Gabriel Valley have provided nearly 28 inches of rain which increased River flow dramatically.
The higher-than-average water levels halted the project until May 2, 2019. The contractor was able to move back onto the River Gate inlet structure to install a critical slide gate. The installation of this gate will lead the way for the installation of the remaining gates and other necessary improvements early this summer. Led by W. David Byrum as construction manager and Terry Kerger as the design engineer, the Civiltec team will foster the construction completion and commissioning of the new facilities.
