We are very proud to announce on 10/13/17 Pasatiempo Golf Club made recycled water for the first time. As a golf course superintendent, with almost 20 years in the business, I can say this project is something I am very proud to be associated with. Bogard Construction and SSA Landscape did a great job building and managing our project through record rainfall and challenging design changes.
We are now working our way through the system, fine tuning software and hardware issues. We will continue to operate the system and make water as needed until the rains take over.
Items Remaining to Complete:
The landscape irrigation is being installed this week with plant material onsite within the next 10 days
The restroom and cart path will open once we receive final inspection from the county
After all the contractors have completed their work the gold tee on #14 will be rebuilt
The old restroom on #15 tee will be removed
Valve opens for the first time
Secondary from Scotts Valley hits our pressurization vault
The water project has been moving at a blistering pace since the end of the winter rains. We are on track to finish construction mid August and begin our 2 week startup procedure. There are numerous requirements from the city, county and state before we turn on the treatment facility but the list is getting smaller each and every week.
Completed
500k gallon tank
All building foundations and walls
Pump station
Filters
Underground piping and electrical
In Progress
Finish work on all buildings
Above ground piping
Sewer connection
Finish grade
Landscaping
PG&E connection
Cart path
#14 gold tee
We are extremely excited about our current state of the water project. If you have any questions or would like to see the project up close please contact myself or Scott Hoyt.
After a long winter we are finally seeing significant progress around the storage tank. Building foundations are being poured today and underground utilities are underway. Above is an updated time-lapse of the tank site.
Scott Hoyt attended the Regional Water Control Board meeting in San Luis Obispo last week and received our recycled water permit. The permit to produce and distribute recycled water on property marks a significant milestone for this project and Pasatiempo.
Last week the City of Scotts Valley completed the diversion structure at the intersection of Graham Hill and Sims Road. The structure was needed to divert recycled water to our property. The city can now start construction of the new pipeline on Sims Road. The existing 6" pipe will be replaced with a 12" pipe from the intersection at Graham Hill Road to our property. The larger pipe is needed in order for us to receive the amount of water agreed to in the contract.
Please don't hesitate to contact Scott or myself with any questions.
I started a blog post last week about our near record rainfall season. As I revisit it this week our crew is hand watering greens after 4+ days of 70 degree weather. Predicting weather is a failed cause but I do hope we receive more rainfall this season. It's not because I want to break all the records or keep carts on the paths. I want a little more rain to make all the rain we received seem worth it. It doesn't really matter how much rain we get during the winter. It only matters when we get it. If we spread 30" evenly over 6 months it will conserve more water than 100" over 3 months. Sure, it helps replenish aquifers which is extremely important for many of our potable and agricultural needs within the county but, once the atmospheric river turns off it doesn't take long for us to be right back into irrigating. I would hate to see us pay a potable water bill over the next 60 days that increased almost 40% last October after 60" of rainfall.
So now back to our near record season. The chart below shows this year compared to the 5 wettest years in Santa Cruz since 1948. As you can see we are a few inches from a record season.
Just a reminder we will be closed for aeration April 10th-13th. Limited practice facilities will be open during aeration. Ken will send out a schedule as we get closer. Thank you for the positive comments about the golf course and as always if you have any questions or concerns please contact me or stop by my office.
The bulk of the pineapple express, atmospheric river or whatever else you want to call it is coming to an end. We faired well compared to several courses in the area. We received 5" of rain with very little damage. A medium sized pine tree fell along the ditch on #14 and a few small slides are visible along the barrancas. The bunkers should be back to normal by this weekend. Overall I feel like we dodged a bullet the past 48 hours.
To be honest, I had no expectations going into winter this year. Coming off a fairly wet El Nino (42") I was hoping for an average year of rainfall (30") spread out evenly October-April. Some of this had to do with the fact that as much as we needed the rain to replenish our water supply I selfishly wanted the winter to be mild so we could finish our water project on time. So far, it seems both are working in our favor.
The water project is still on time after picking up a few weeks during the construction of the tank. Our master schedule shows us back filling around the tank January 15th-February 1st. All we need is a 10 day stretch of no rain this month to complete.
We are also on pace for a very wet year. Our total rainfall since October 1st is 30" with a few more inches predicted over the next 48 hours. If we continue with average rainfall amounts over the next 90 days we could easily eclipse the 40" mark.
Since 1948 Annual Rainfall Totals
40"- 50" 10 times (last year being one of them)
50"- 60" 2 times
> 60" 1 (1997-1998)
Loch Lomond reservoir is over the spillway and the rivers and streams are at capacity.
You might think with all the rainfall the course would be almost unplayable. This couldn't be further from the truth. The significant investments in cart paths, drainage, bunkers, and top dressing are providing playable conditions throughout the winter. As I type this post we are mowing greens. The weekend looks clear and should make for a great round of golf.
We are very excited with the progress of the water project to this point. We are still on target to go online with the system June 2017.
Tank - We recently finished wrapping the tank with a large cable. For those of you who witnessed this it was very impressive. The cable is wound around the tank under tension and anchored in several places. The large red tower completed the wrap in less than 24 hours. Next week the cable will be covered with 6" of concrete. The tank will then be covered with a water barrier prior to back fill.
Backfill - We will begin backfilling the tank after the first of the year. The soil must meet specific moisture parameters in order for us to backfill and compact the soil around the tank. Several weeks ago we tested the soil and found it to be nearly perfect. We decided to cover the pile to maintain the moisture content which ended up being a great idea with all the rain. We estimate almost all of the spoils on #2 tee will be used to backfill the tank. Once completed the majority of the tank will be backfilled to the rim. The most exposed area will be on the northwest side of the tank facing #14 tee. Approximately 7' will be exposed on this side. The area will be screened by the bathroom and landscape.
Sewer - With the recent extension of the sewer system to Orchard Drive, along Sims Road adjacent to our project, we decided to modified our design to accommodate the new sewer connection. Access to the sewer will allow us to eliminate a septic field for our restroom and more importantly discharge our backwash from the recycled water filters into the sewer. The original design was to utilize the overflow line we installed along #14 to discharge the backwash back into the outfall line we receive our recycled water from. The original design would allow us to always receive the minimum daily amount of recycled water guaranteed in our contract from Scotts Valley (170k gallons). The quantity of backwash reintroduced into the outfall line (10k gallons/day) potentially limited us from taking all of the water flowing down the pipeline due to the permitted water quality the state mandates for discharge to the ocean. This is a huge win for us to now have the ability to take almost every drop of water in the outfall pipeline (up to 500k gallons/day) for the next 30 years. We negotiated the cost of the sewer connection to be applied to our property taxes over the 25-30 years.
Water Diversion - Part of our contract to receive the secondary water from Scotts Valley requires us to install a valve on Graham Hill Road to diver the water to Pasatiempo. The system was originally designed to divert water and included this valve. The valve was removed by the City of Scotts Valley many years ago. We are working closely Scotts Valley on several design options to divert the water to Pasatiempo.
The water project passed with overwhelming support from the shareholders. We all recognized the importance of securing alternative water sources at reasonable rates. This past October the City of Santa Cruz raised our potable water rates almost 40%. The increase was not known at the time of the shareholder vote. Without this project the known increases in potable water rates through 2020 would increase our annual potable water costs from 550k to 1.15 million.
Please contact Scott or myself if you have any questions. Thank you for the support and commitment to this project.
It will take approximately 20 weeks to complete the tank construction (2-1-17 projected completion)
All of the dirt that is being stored by the 2nd tee will be used as backfill against the tank.
All of the dirt that is being stored at the project location will be top soil for finish grade.
We applied hydromulch to all three piles to ensure they stay in place during the winter months.
We should complete the installation of the overflow pipeline right of the 14th hole and behind the green. The piles of sand behind the 14th green/15th tee will be used for backfill against the pipeline.
The overflow pipeline is mandated in our construction permit in case of emergency
It appears we will be tying into the new sewer system that recently got extended from Graham Hill road to Orchard drive on Sims road. We need to dispose of waste from our restroom but also backwash from our filtration station.The backwash was causing an issue that disposing of it into the sewer will resolve.
We have had our preliminary meetings with Scotts Valley and their engineers to come up with the best solution to divert the recycled water at Sims and Graham Hill to our plant. Scotts Valley will present to Pasatiempo 3 options for diversion and delivery by November 1st.
The projected completion date for the project is July 1, 2017
