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Colorado River Basin
Salinity Control Project
Lower Colorado
Region
Vol. 1, No. 6 - A quarterly newsletter about Title I features - July 15. 1976 Bureau of Reclamation Boulder City, Nevada 89005 P.O. Box 427 LOW BIDDER ON BYPASS DRAIN - U.S. SECTION- was Contri Construction Co., Inc., Incline Village, Nevada. The Contri bid of $4,416,420 was one of nine submitted
at opening in Yuma June 29. fhe Engineer's Estimate was $6,198,374. Second low bid of $4,910,725 was by Warren Brothers Co., Richmond, Virginia, followed by
$4,959,763 by Sully-Miller Contracting Co., Long Beach, California. The
16-mile-long, 353-cubic-foot-per-second concrete lined open drain will connect the existing main outlet drain extension at Morelos Dam to the 35-mile-long
Mexican section now under construction. The drain will carry either brine reject from the Yuma Desalting Plant or nontreated water from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District in southwestern Arizona to the Santa Clara Slough near the Gulf of California.
CONCRETE WORK ON Bypass Drain in Mexico during summer heat will be done from
6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Some phase of construction is now in progress in practically all areas of the 35-mile drain which extends in Mexico
from San Luis to the Santa Clara Slough on the northeastern edge of the Gulf of
California. The Mexican portion of the drain will tie in with the soon-to-be-constructed 16-mile U.S. section originating at
Morelos Dam. Over 50 percent of the work on the Mexican contract--well ahead of schedule--has been completed. Mexican workers and machines keep up fast pace in this recent photo.
AN INFORMATIONAL FOLDER to replace the illustrated Fact Sheet on Title I of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Project will be printed this Fall . The new folder will follow the format of other Bureau of Reclamation folders which are in wide circulation throughout the nation. The first printing will approximate 10,000 copies. The folder will be updated as the Title I program progresses. All Salt Talk readers will be sent copies and the folder is expected to be in great demand in schools throughout the nation because of the Title I program's
uniqueness and nationwide publicity which it bas received. Pending printing of the folder, copies of the fact sheet are available upon request.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS issued last March for Yuma Desalting Plant's membrane equipment is unique in annals of desalting plant bidding. RFP does not
request proposals for the entire plant from a single offerer because the plant's size (approximately 100 Mgal/d) is so much greater than any membrane desalting plant in existence or under construction.
The bidding schedule in the RFP calls for manufacturers to propose a segment consisting of an initial 20 Mgal/d desalting unit plus increments up to 60 Mgal/d. It is the intention of the Bureau that the plant consist of at least two membrane processes and that at least two manufacturers be
represented. Proposals are to be received by August 2, 1976. The selection will be based on an extensive evaluation of the proposals by the Bureau to ensure the ability of each selected offerer's equipment to perform satisfactorily in the Yuma Desalting Plant. Each successful offerer will provide a proof test unit which will undergo a 6-month..Lesting program at the-Yuma Desalting-Te~~ "Facility. While the total capacity of this proof test unit will be a great deal less than
that of the proposed plant segment, the membrane elements used and their
con-figuration are to resemble that of the proposed 20 Mgal/d desalting unit as closely as possible.
The product salinity from the desalting equipment will depend on the optimization of the performance of that equipment. The product salinity is not specified in the RFP, but it must be between 0 and 622 p/m.
To ensure accurate evaluation of each offerer's proposal, the RFP includes a method by which the capacity of a unit with a given salinity can be related to the equivalent capacity of a unit producing water with a salinity of 254 p/m. The RFP includes requests for previous experience as well as detailed information of the projected operation of each offerer's equipment. This information, along with the results of the proof test unit testing, will assist Bureau personnel
in designing and constructing a reliable desalting plant which will recover as much as possible of the Wellton-Mohawk drainage while allowing the United States to meet its obligations to Mexico in compliance with Minute 242 of the International Boundary and Water Commission.
WELLTON~OHAWK lAND PURCHASES' for farmland retirement to~reduce rrigation retur_n __ _ flows to the Yuma Desalting Plant when it goes into operation in 1981 continues on schedule with more than half of the 6,000 privately owned acreage now acquired. A test demonstration was made to clear citrus trees from part of one acquired tract. Specifications are being prepared from the information obtained to advertise for clearing 1,300 additional acres. Clearing plans include windrowing and brush piling on some of the acreage for wildlife enhancement. Clearing will be scheduled only during the fall and winter to avoid the dove nesting season. On most of the acreage
the trees will be chipped and the debris left to aid in soil erosion control. Private and State of Arizona lands, along with interests of State agricultural and commercial lessees, comprising about 21,400 acres on the South Yuma Mesa, are being condemned to obtain title for the 5-mile protective pumping zone. Negotiation£ are continuing to effect an exchange of Federal land for State interest in the Mesa land rather than to make a cash condemnation settlement to the State trust fund.
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OFFICE OF WATER RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY is providing vital support in the planning, design, and construction of the Yuma Desalting Plant. OWRT has undertaken development and testing of several pretreatment and membrane processes. First and foremost are the large module/stack development
contracts issued to Ionics, Inc., Fluid Systems Division of Universal Oil Products, E.I. DuPont, and Dow Chemical Co. All four companies have completed design and fabrication of large capacity equipment and all are now testing at OWRT's Roswell Test Facility, Roswell, N.M. As of mid-June, the UOP unit had accumulated about 300 operating hours, the DuPont unit 700 hours, the Dow unit 1200 hours and the Ionics unit 400 hours. Testing at Roswell is scheduled through August. It is anticipated that the units will be relocated to the Yuma Desalting Test Facility in September.
Other OWRT work being completed at Roswell includes studies in utilization of sulfur dioxide (S0
2) for dechlorination of feedwater and the use of carbon dioxide (C02) forpH adjustment. These activities were centered around the effects of those compounds upon membrane materials.
This summer two other OWRT-sponsored efforts, identification and effectiveness of membrane cleaning agents and silica scaling studies, will begin at the YDTF. Both are important in the development of the final plan for design and operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant.
~ECLAMATION PARTICI?ATED in the National Water Supply Improvement Association's 4th annual meeting in Oklahoma City July 12-15. A speech titled "Reclamation's Role in Water Supply Improvement" by Commissioner Gilbert G. Stamm was delivered by Lower Colorado Regional Director Manuel Lopez, Jr., at the noon luncheon July 12. Commissioner Stamm was unable to attend because of another commitment. On the same day Lower Colorado Regional Title I Coordinator Floyd Summers presented
two technical papers, prepared by LCR staff members. The first paper is a status report on the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Project, Titles I and II, while the second describes desalting efforts at the East Mesa Geothermal Test Site in Imperial County, California. The first paper discusses Title I activity at the Yuma Desalting Test Facility, plao of development for the Yuma Desalting Plant, Request for Proposals for the desalting equipment and the plant and river operation. Title II part of paper centers on plans and preliminary estimates for the
LaVerkin Springs and Las Vegas Wash units, both of which include desalting applications. The second paper deals with test results to date of existing equipment and water chemistry characteristics in the two pilot desalting plants in operation at the East Mesa site.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEUTRON PROBE as a field tool to determine the moisture
status in the soil profile has been a giant stride forward in accurately scheduling the on-farm irrigation events. The farm manager's confidence in the irrigation schedule has increased sharply as evidenced by the fact that there are now on
schedule over 18,000 acres (30 percent) in the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District. Through use of the probe he is no longer dependent exclusively on the good
jud~nt of the Irrigation Management Services (IMS) technician. The refill point
or the representative field location or decisions where judgments are required
enables the manager to participate with the technician in reaching a sound decision. The benefits are not all to the farmer. An effectively operated Irrigation District
IMS program can provide water to the proper canal turn-out at the proper time. Canals can be operated within their safe capacity limits, avoiding costly canal breaks and water outages. Energy requirements can be minimized in districts where the irrigation water supply is pumped. Additional energy savings will accrue to those districts which depend on pumps for drainage relief, since deep percolation can be controlled.
Ted Moser Ed Hallenbeck
TED MOSER, who did much of Reclamation's spade work on Title I features of the
Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Project, has retired as Yuma Projects Manager due to ill health. Edward M. Hallenbeck, Manager of Reclamation's Parker-Davis Project in Phoenix for the past 5 years, is his successor. A native of Kansas, Moser completed 30 years of Federal service, the last 13 in Yuma. Hallenbeck is a South Dakotan with over 13 years Federal service. He will administer Reclamation's construction, operation, and maintenance program on the Lower Colorado River, including the Yuma Desalting Plant and other Title I
features.
W-M MAIN OUTLET DRAIN EXTENSION siphon construction has been completed one year
ahead of schedule. Only minor gate work
continues. The inverted siphon replaces the metal flume which paralleled the Colorado
River for about 3,000 feet in the Yuma Crossing area near Prison Hill. This reach
of the MODE will carry Wellton-Mohawk drainage water in a buried reinforced 10-foot-diameter pipe. The expedited
construction schedule was made possible by good coordination of drain outages with construction activities. Broken white line on photo, looking toward Mexico, indicates
route of buried siphon. Siphon inlet is
visible at Lower right center. Historic
Territorial Prison is at left of old highway and railroad bridges crossing the Colorad~
River from Arizona, left, into California. Construction of Interstate 8 is visible
beyond. Cleared area along the river where siphon is buried is expected to be converted
to open space and park by local authorit~s.
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EVALUATION OF NEW MEMBRANE desalting units has started at the Yuma Desalting
Test Fa~ility following re~ent expansion of pretreatment ~apabilities. New
equipment being tested in~ludes three reverse osmosis desalters--a Dow
80,000 gallons-per-day unit; a Hydranautics 16,000 gal/d unit; and a ROGA
175,000 gal/d unit. Testing also has begun on an Ioni~s 30,000 gal/d
electrodialysis unit. Additional desalting units will be brought in for
testing in the year after a 40- by 80-foot test pad is ~ompleted. Another
trailer offi~e has been set up to house five engineering spe~islists assigned
to the operation. Also being ~ompleted are additional buildings and expansions
whi~h will provide more work and storage areas. Aerial view in top photo shows
Yuma Desalting Test Fa~ility as it looked on June 29. Universal Oil Produ~ts
Company's ROGA spiral wound reverse osmosis unit being tested at the fa~ility
