Yuba City's Sanborn water project almost done

A final link to Yuba City's expanded water network is almost complete.

The 3.6-million-gallon water tank and pump station at Lincoln and Sanborn roads should be finished in three months, Utilities Director George Musallam said Thursday.

The Sanborn Storage and Pumping Plant will store some of the city's water supply from the Feather River and provide and treat water for about 4,000 former Hillcrest water system customers.

"This is the last project of two years of projects," he said. "Everything has gone on schedule. We expect to be online by May, before peak demand is required."

On Thursday, crews were painting the inside of the pump station, clearing debris and working on site improvements. In the next few months, the surrounding water lines will be pressure tested and filled, and then the storage tank will be sanitized and filled.

"We're getting close," said Claire Shawver, construction project manager for Yuba City. "It's a lot of work that's not really visible."

The 32-foot-tall tank was completed by November, and crews are working to finish the pump station. Two weeks ago, five pumps were lowered through the skylights by crane and set inside, and for the next few weeks, crews will continue to finish the electrical work, site improvements and exterior stucco.

"It's a lot of specialized stuff, but we started early on the projects," Shawver said. "We've had a nice break in weather that allows to get a lot of stuff completed."

The project cost appears to be closer to $6.5 million than the $8.5 million estimate, including construction, design and administration, Musallam said.

A $26 million low-interest state loan reserved for water projects is paying for the Sanborn pump plant and other improvements.

Yuba City also received $3.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help pay for the pipelines and installation of 3,100 water meters in the old Hillcrest area, which is meant to conserve water by tying monthly rates to customers' usage.

A $17-a-month surcharge per customer is helping repay the loan — a move that inspired opponents to launch an unsuccessful ballot-collecting drive against the charges in 2008.

All three Hillcrest regions have since been converted from groundwater to surface water because the former water supply was marred by high levels of arsenic requiring expensive treatment before Yuba City bought the system in 2001.

CONTACT reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4724.