Loading...It is, perhaps, our most precious resource, essential to replenishing our bodies, and at the center of countless recreational activities. Clean, convenient water. It’s so critical that when one tourist town needed to update its water treatment system, it tapped the NECA-IBEW team.
I hear that once again, the NECA-IBEW team delivered under extreme conditions and pressure-packed time constraints. The Northstar Water Treatment Plant is now completely modernized. This total renovation took place over several months, but the catch was, it all had to come together in one sever-hour-long window where the water was stopped and the plant was powered up.
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“This is a pretty busy place in the winter, as you can see. A lot of skiing with all the snow up here. “Beautiful Lake Tahoe, with its crystal-blue waters, surrounded by snow-covered mountains.
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“It’s very pure, some of the purest water in the country.”
Water here is a commodity. The resort depends on a steady supply of crisp, clean water. So, when it came time to bring Lake Tahoe’s outdated water treatment plant into the 21st century, the flow could only pause briefly.
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“We knew it was going to be a challenge.”
David Bristol, Project Superintendent, K.G. Walters Construction
“It’s a small job, but it’s steady and coordinated because every step of the way had to be planned and reorganized in many ways.”
It took incredible teamwork between NECA Contractors Placer Electric and the IBERW electricians of Local 401, because they were working in extremely tight quarters, among other things.
David Bristol, Project Superintendent, K.G. Walters Construction
“It’s very important that we get the right staff here and people who can think on their feet and the IBEW has done a good job of that.”
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“I couldn’t have done it without the IBEW guys.”
The absolute commitment and skill set of the IBEW allowed Placer Electric to complete the job ahead of schedule.
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“They’re very hard workers, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it with five or six guys up here if I wasn’t IBEW, I’m sure.”
Josh Detwiler, North Star Community Services District
“It’s really amazing how quickly it went from the construction phase to the operation phase.”
Getting everything up and running wasn’t easy.
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“When we came to this project, we basically had to keep this system live at the same time as when we put in the new system to keep half of the complex working. So in the process of doing that, most of the stuff in this building had to be ran overhead. The only stuff that ran underground was the stuff that went to vaults outside of the building.”
Richard Nogleberg, President, Placer Electric
“We’ve looked for projects that are difficult and demanding and require a high level of expertise.”
The crew raced the calendar to finish outside wiring before the winter set in. Lake Tahoe measures snowfall in feet.
Matthew Tracy, Project Manager, Placer Electric
“We just got lucky with weather. You can’t estimate weather up here.”
The climate wasn’t the only obstacle. There wasn’t much of a road map for the old plant.
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“There were really no good drawings on the old part. Actually, ti was kind of fun, I thought. It was a challenge, and that’s what I like is a challenge.”
Josh Detwiler, North Star Community Services District
“So this is the old control board, as you can see it’s all analog dials, values, pneumatic system. We have the inches in water column, we have the rotometers that are controlling filter levels, and we have reactive fire inlet valve position.”
The expertise of Local 401 electricians and leadership from Placer took this plant from a manual system that required a lot of maintenance to the next generation in water treatment technology.
Josh Detwiler, North Star Community Services District
“We can navigate through plant operation set points, different tank levels, different flow levels, different hot water set points, dual process set points can be navigated through this HMI screen. And we really have control over the entire water treatment process through this human machine interface.”
It’s also easier for the utility to make adjustments for increased demand during tourist season.
Josh Detwiler, North Star Community Services District
“Our community has about 150 permanent residents, and then during the ski season or during the summer months, we can have up to 10,000 people here, so our peak demand really varies from season to season, and with this new treatment facility, we can make adjustments to that peak water demand instantaneously.”
Service, as always, is a priority for the NECA-IBEW team across North America, and it was clearly visible on this job in Lake Tahoe. So much so, that they took steps to protect service in the future. They had the foresight to track and tag wiring for maintenance and repairs.
David Bristol, Project Superintendent, K.G. Walters Construction
“I think one of the trickiest pats for the electrical contractor was really dismantling the old stuff while keeping it online, because over the years, there’s a lot of work that’s been done on the plant, nobody really know where things have gone. They really did a great job of troubleshooting and keeping things online so the mechanical side could do their work and keep things running.”
It took months of work and massive amounts of planning to prepare for one time slot, a brief window without power, and without water, to transfer service to the new plant.
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“It took about six to eight hours that day.”
A momentary inconvenience to ensure the water flowing to this community is of the highest quality.
Richard Nogleberg, President, Placer Electric
“It feels good to know the residents are getting a good-quality product.”
David Walker, Superintendent, Placer Electric
“We keep coming back. Any time they have something, they’ll always call the IBEW members back to do the work because they know we keep up on all of our training and knowledge to do all this type of work.”
At the new Northstar Water Treatment Plant, NECA and the IBEW are part of a promise to produce some of the purest, most pristine water for generations to come.