Blacoh Fluid Controls Inc. will be supplying the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District with a bladder surge suppressor for the district’s Skymeadows Booster Pump Station.
The EVMWD board voted 5-0 Thursday, Jan. 11, to approve the purchase of a bladder surge suppressor for $132,792.25. The action also authorized $677 for overhead expenses associated with the purchase.
The Skymeadows Booster Pump Station is in the 33800 block of Encina Drive. In September 2019, the EVMWD board awarded SCW Contracting Corporation, which is based in Rainbow, a contract for improvements to the Skymeadows Booster Pump Station and the Los Pinos 2A Pump Station. The Skymeadows Booster Pump Station improvements had been substantially completed by mid-2021 when it was discovered that the new surge tank which was installed on the discharge side of the pump station would not meet the required pressure class with the new 500 gallons per minute pump in operation. The Skymeadows facility has continued operation using the old 150 gallons per minute pump which has no redundancies.
The plan to complete the Skymeadows project includes the purchase and installation of a new discharge surge tank which complies with the operational specifications for a 500 gallons per minute pump. The surge tanks on both the discharge and suction sides of the pump station are manufactured by Blacoh. Those units are customized to meet facility specifications including the Blacoh monitoring panel, pressure requirements, existing connection points and anchor points. Blacoh is the only manufacturer which can provide a surge tank meeting the required facility specifications, so a sole source contract was warranted and EVMWD and Blacoh staff negotiated a quote for the bladder surge suppressor. The tank itself is a $119,500.00 expense with freight charges and taxes creating the $132,792.25 total amount.
After the new equipment is received EVMWD operations staff will complete the installation and the startup and commissioning of the surge tank. It will allow operation with the 500 gallons per minute pump.
Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia.com.
