Bolsa Chica Water Line and Wastewater Service Project

Southern California Water Company (SCWC) is an investor-owned public utility engaged principally in the purchase, production, distribution, and sale of water to over 240,000 customers. SCWC operates 41 separate water systems in 10 counties in the State of California. SCWC currently supplies domestic water to over 25,000 customers in western Orange County, including portions of the cities of Los Alamitos and Cypress. SCWC receives water for its West Orange County District from two sources: imported water from the Colorado River and State Water Project, and local groundwater (from the Santa Ana River Groundwater Basin).

SCWC has submitted two applications for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The first application (A.98-11-003) requests approval to extend SCWC’s existing West Orange County System by constructing a 6.7-mile underground water transmission line to serve a proposed residential development referred to as the Bolsa Chica Planned Community. The second application (A.98-11-015) requests approval for SCWC to operate and maintain a wastewater collection system that would be constructed to serve the Bolsa Chica Planned Community.

The Bolsa Chica Planned Community site encompasses approximately 230 acres on Bolsa Chica Mesa in Orange County’s Bolsa Chica Local Coastal Program (LCP) Area. The development site is located on the south side of Los Patos Avenue between Bolsa Chica Street and the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1). The site is located within the Coastal Zone in unincorporated territory of Orange County. The construction of 1,235 residential dwelling units is currently planned on the site pending approval of a coastal development permit.

The proposed underground water line would originate in the City of Cypress, where it would connect with the Southern California Water Company’s existing West Orange County System. The proposed point of connection to the existing SCWC system is a 12" water main located at the intersection of Orangewood Avenue and Valley View Street. From this point of connection, the pipeline would proceed easterly along Orangewood Avenue for a distance of about 1,250 feet to the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center (LAAFRC). Upon entering the LAAFRC property, the pipeline would begin to veer to the southwest and proceed along the edge of the parking lot of the LAAFRC golf course. The pipeline would continue in a southwesterly direction along the golf course’s perimeter maintenance road until reaching the Orange County Flood Control District’s (OCFCD’s) Bolsa Chica Channel, at which point the pipeline would turn south. The pipeline would proceed south in the channel right-of-way eventually exiting the LAAFRC property and crossing beneath Lampson Avenue. The pipeline would continue south in the maintenance road adjacent to the channel for a distance of about 2,800 feet until reaching the junction of the Route 22 and Interstate 405 freeways. The pipeline would then cross beneath the freeways and continue south along Old Bolsa Chica Road. After leaving Old Bolsa Chica Road, the pipeline would proceed south in the northbound lanes of Bolsa Chica Road. The pipeline would remain in Bolsa Chica Road/Street until reaching the Bolsa Chica Planned Community site at the southern terminus of Bolsa Chica Street. The pipeline would then turn west and continue along the northern edge of the Bolsa Chica Planned Community site for a distance of about 1,200 feet where it would discharge into a planned underground reservoir on the Bolsa Chica Planned Community site. The proposed pipeline route is detailed in the table below.

The Applicant has divided the pipeline into three segments and proposes to construct all three segments concurrently. Segment 1 extends from the Bolsa Chica Planned Community site north along Bolsa Chica Street to the Rancho Road intersection. Rancho Road is the boundary between Huntington Beach and Westminster. Segment 2 extends from Rancho Road to a point just north of Lampson Avenue, and includes the undercrossing of the I-405 and Route 22 freeways. Segment 3 extends from the north side of Lampson Avenue to the point of connection with SCWC’s West Orange County System at the northeast corner of Orangewood Avenue and Valley View Street. Construction of the pipeline would occur Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

The total length of pipeline to be installed would be approximately 35,370 linear feet (6.7 miles). The pipeline would consist of 18" diameter ductile iron pipe buried at a typical depth of 42 inches (3.5 feet) below the ground surface. At utility and storm drain crossings, the pipeline will be laid at depths ranging from five to ten feet. Crossings at major intersections are expected to be 10 to 15 feet in depth. Construction easements will not be required for construction within street rights-of-way. Construction easements in OCFCD right-of-way are anticipated to be 20 feet wide and consist of a trench approximately four feet wide and a 16-foot wide work area.

The majority of the pipeline would be installed using open trench construction. Open trench construction methods are typically used to install pipeline from the ground or street surface. The installation consists of trenching, shoring of the trench, laying the pipe, backfilling the trench, compacting the fill, and restoring the ground surface. A typical trench would be approximately three feet wide and may be either sloped back or shored vertically. Trenching depths would range from approximately 5 feet to 15 feet below the ground surface. The length of open trench during construction would typically be equivalent to a single day’s installation of pipe (estimated at about 100 feet per day along each construction spread).

At certain locations, a construction method referred to as boring and jacking is proposed to install the pipeline beneath existing facilities/structures without trenching. Boring and jacking, or pipe jacking, is a method that utilizes a horizontal jack to install pipe in a single pass. A hydraulic jack pushes the pipe segment by segment through the soil from a jacking pit to a receiving pit. Soil is excavated mechanically or manually at the pipe's leading edge. Pipe jacking is normally used for relatively short tunneling installations because friction resistance increases with length and only very gentle curves can be negotiated. For the proposed water transmission line, boring and jacking is proposed at three locations:

• The U.S. Naval Weapons Station rail tracks crossing of Bolsa Chica Street just south of Westminster Boulevard

• The intersection of Bolsa Chica Road and Westminster Boulevard

• The crossing of the I-405/SR-22 freeway interchange

Special construction methods would be required at two flood control channel crossings. At the Westminster Channel crossing just north of Edinger Avenue, a single span support structure would be constructed to eliminate the need for an intermediate support (such as pilings) within the hydraulic cross section of the channel. At the Anaheim-Barber City Channel crossing just north of Rancho Road, the pipeline would be supported by connections to the upstream end of the existing reinforced concrete box culvert under Bolsa Chica Street.

Bolsa Chica Planned Community Water and Wastewater Facilities

Planned water facilities on the Bolsa Chica Planned Community site include a 4 million gallon underground water storage reservoir, a groundwater well with wellhead treatment facilities, a distribution pump station, and a backbone water distribution system. These on-site facilities were previously examined in the Program EIR for the Bolsa Chica Local Coastal Program (LCP). The proposed 6.7-mile domestic water transmission line has not been examined in any previous environmental documents relating to the Bolsa Chica Planned Community.