With this latest ARRA award, USBR is initiating the final construction phase of the project. The contract will involve Balfour Beatty Infrastructure constructing a 1118ft-long fish screen, building a pumping station, installing nine pumps and motors, and building an electrical switchyard. Construction of the project is expected to begin in summer 2010 and be completed in 2012.
When completed, the facility is designed to provide for improved fish passage through the existing Red Bluff Diversion Dam. The new diversion facility will be located on the Sacramento River about a mile upstream of the dam.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and USBR Commissioner Mike Connor broke ground at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam project on 23 March 2010 to begin the Fish Passage Improvement Project under previously announced ARRA funding.
The project will be completed in multi-phases by USBR, the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority, and the State of California. The total project cost is estimated at $230M and is being paid for partially by $109M in ARRA money.
The new pumping plant facility that is being constructed with the latest contract is designed with an ultimate capacity to deliver 2500 cfs of water from the Sacramento River into the Tehama-Colusa and Corning Canals to irrigate 150,000 acres of high-valued crops in Tehama, Glenn, Colusa, and northern Yolo counties. The initial installed capacity of the pumping plant will be 2000cfs.
