Sweetwater Authority to replace aging pipelines

Three old, leaky pipelines in National City and Bonita will be replaced, the Sweetwater Authority governing board decided last week.

Escondido-based SRK Engineering will undertake the projects starting in June under a $2.4 million contract approved by the board.

The three water mains were listed as the authority’s highest priority projects, according to its 2020 Water Distribution System Master Plan, because they have had four or more leaks and are expected to break again. Staff told the board that leaks do not affect ratepayers’ bills and that the replacement projects will ensure continued water service.

One of them is an 8-inch welded steel main in Bucky Lane, located from East 43rd to Sill streets in National City, that was installed more than 60 years ago. It leaked in 1996 and 2012. It will be replaced with a new, 8-inch polyvinyl chloride pipe, or PVC, which are thermoplastic materials known to be more resistant to corrosion. The work will consist of moving the alignment from private property, as it’s within several easements that cross an apartment complex, to the public right-of-way and replacing it with the new main, according to authority staff.

The second is the replacement of a 12-inch steel water main with a PVC pipe of the same size. The metal pipe was installed in 1952 on East 24th Street, from Grove Street to Euclid Avenue in National City, and leaked four times between 1996 and 2020. A portion of the alignment also crosses private property and its replacement includes moving it to the public right-of-way.

The third involves installing a new, 12-inch PVC pipeline in Sweetwater Road, from Briarwood Road to Pray Street, and in Pray Street, from Sweetwater Road to approximately 200 linear feet north of Pray Court. The project gives the Bonita Highlands area, with about 175 customers, a secondary water supply that will allow the Bonita Golf Pump Station to operate automatically in the event of an outage, according to the authority.

Once work begins on the three projects, residents and businesses will be notified and provided updates, staff said. Construction is expected to be completed by December.