This $19.75-million project provided sewer services to the Newport Beach Balboa Peninsula area. Completed on time and under budget, the 40-mgd station started conveying sewage to the Orange County Sanitation District's Treatment Plant No. 2 in June 2012.

Sited along the Pacific Coast Highway, the project is adjacent to an active oil field, marshlands, residential communities and a restaurant, as well as the city of Newport Beach and Caltrans access easements and rights-of-way. The contract was coordinated with two municipal projects: a new force main from the pump station to the treatment plant and a new headworks facility.

The Bitter Point Sewage Pumping Station includes a below-grade wet well and dry well and an above-grade electrical room. Most of the station was constructed below grade in strata with liquefiable soils 300 yd from the Pacific Ocean and its tidal influence. Because of that location, the foundation required deep excavation. The construction team also was concerned about noise dispersion in the community, so a silent piling shoring system was used.

Crews performed excavation in the wet, and a tremie slab was poured, preventing dewatering of the surrounding areas and settlement of adjacent structures. Because high tide is approximately 20 ft above the finished floor of the basement, extensive waterproofing techniques were used.

Key Players

Owner: Orange County Sanitation District, Fountain Valley

Contractor: Kiewit/Mass. Electric JV, Sante Fe Springs

Lead Design: Lee & Ro, City of Industry

Structural/Civil/MEP: Lee & Ro, City of Industry

Structural Shoring: Berti-Lindquist Consulting Engineers, Moraga

Geotechnical Engineering: Diaz Yourman & Assoc., Santa Ana

Surveying: Bush & Associates, Irvine

Waterproofing/Methane Mitigation Inspections: Terra-Petra, Los Angeles

Painting & Coating Contractor: Parada Painting, Poway

Building Masonry Contractor: Winegardner Masonry, Yucaipa

Shoring Installation Contractor: Blue Iron, West Sacramento

Welding Contractor: Pacific Coast Welding, Costa Mesa

Submitted by Lee & Ro