Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project Wins Engineering Award
The GRC will host a 2-Day Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project and Calpine Geysers Geothermal Operations Tour on October 22-23 from the GRC Annual Meeting & GEA GEOEXPO+ in Sacramento, California, USA.
The Bridge Award is an annual award given by the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association to a Project that has demonstrated collaboration between the Public and Private sectors in creating a project that has had major impact on the Community.
The GRC will host a 2-Day Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project and Calpine Geysers Geothermal Operations Tour on October 22-23 from the GRC Annual Meeting & GEA GEOEXPO+ in Sacramento, California, USA.
The Bridge Award is an annual award given by the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association to a Project that has demonstrated collaboration between the Public and Private sectors in creating a project that has had major impact on the Community.
The 2016 Bridge Award was given to the Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project which has been successful in helping re-charge the geothermal reservoir in The Geysers.
John Bly, Executive Vice President of the EDC wrote about the project in a December 2016 web blog post:
"We are started on a project that will create a short video of the Geysers Pipeline Project that will encompass some of the unique aspects of this remarkable effort. I have long stated that our area is unique to the entire world because we process our waste effluent and transport it up to the geothermal area called the Geysers, where it is reinjected underground to combine with the hot magma to form steam. That steam then is harvested by huge turbines to create some of the cleanest electrical power ever generated.
For those that recall the turbulent era when the City of Santa Rosa was under a moratorium due to “spilling” effluent that got into the Russian River, we can recall all of the justifiable outrage of the environmental community that gained a huge influence as a result of the wastewater dilemma caused by how the City of Santa Rosa was disposing of the wastewater. You might recall at one time an ocean outfall near Salmon Creek was the preferred disposal option. Or the giant facultative wetlands and pond concept near Lakeville Highway. How about the injection into the roots of redwood trees that was once considered a viable alternative? At any rate, the Geysers option became viable as a result of their geothermal fields depleting the steam reservoirs back in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
The first community to act was Lake County. You might recall a group of projects including a major pipeline by Argonaut that took wastewater from Lakeport all the way to Clearlake Oaks was installed. At the same time, Wastewater treatment projects were being built all around Clearlake. And the rest of the project involved installing intakes into Clearlake to draw off lake water, mix it with the effluent, and pump it all the way from Clearlake Oaks through Middletown and up to the Calpine Geysers steam-fields. Once that system proved worthy, the City of Santa Rosa worked at selling bonds and designing their own system to bring wastewater from Llano Road treatment plant, under the Russian River (two deep bores) and up Pine Flat Road at 600psi to the Geysers steam-fields.
The Geysers Pipeline Project was, and is a remarkable achievement and is truly worthy of honoring this project as the first and perhaps the most impactful Public-Private collaboration in our local history. The ECA is proud to honor this Project and all of the design consultants, contractors, suppliers, and public officials that were able to work through the environmental constraints and physical challenges to create a long range disposal solution for wastewater that was innovative, cost effective, and brilliant."