The Morena Pump Station and Conveyance Project is a key and major component to the City of San Diego’s Pure Water Program, a multi-phase project that aims to ultimately provide more than 40% of San Diego’s water locally by the end of 2035. Currently San Diego imports much of its water from sources elsewhere in Northern California as well as from the Colorado River.

The raw sewage pumping station will be connected to receive incoming sewage flows from three existing large diameter underground trunk sewer pipelines. To get the pump’s infrastructure connected to those lines, Flatiron and its subcontractor Ward & Burke Tunneling will install more than 4,800 linear feet of PVC-lined, reinforced concrete pipeline utilizing microtunneling techniques. Connecting the pump station to the existing pipelines will be done under “full flow” conditions utilizing an advanced sewer bypass system that was designed and perfected by our own engineers to handle flows upwards of 36 million gallons per day.

An extensive dewatering effort will be carried out more than 40 feet below the existing groundwater table. Building the station’s structure itself will require excavations as deep as 55 feet below existing grade.