San Diego, California – The Olivenhain Dam and Reservoir project was selected by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers for an Honor award in the 2005 Excellence in Environmental Engineering awards program in the category of Design. Constructed for the San Diego County Water Authority and the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, this unique and innovative project includes a 318-foot tall, roller-compacted concrete dam, the tallest dam of its kind in the nation and the first RCC dam in California.
The Olivenhain Dam is the first major dam constructed in San Diego County in the last 50 years. Designed by the joint venture team of MWH and Parsons, Inc., the project required the placement of more than 1.4 million cubic yards of roller-compacted concrete. The new dam was inaugurated in September 2003 and reservoir filling was completed on January 19, 2004, providing the Water Authority and the District with more than 24,000 acre-feet of new reservoir storage. Since the purpose of the Olivenhain Dam is as an emergency water supply, its unique design features emphasize earthquake reliability. Optimization of the dam addressed several areas including foundation shaping, structural enhancements and operational equipment strengthening.
The Olivenhain Dam and Reservoir is a critical part of the Water Authority’s $827 million, 10-year Emergency Storage Project, an effort to increase the amount of water available within the county for use during emergencies, such as a drought or major earthquake. Overall, it will add approximately 90,000 acre-feet of additional reservoir storage in San Diego and expand the existing transmission and distribution capabilities, thus providing a six-month supply of water in case of emergency or natural disaster.
The AAEE Honor award is one of many awards given to this prestigious project in the last year including selection as a finalist in the American Society of Civil Engineers Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement awards program; the California Society of Civil Engineers and San Diego Section 2004 California Outstanding Civil Engineering Project; the American Public Works Association, San Diego/Imperial Counties Chapter 2004 Project of the Year; the San Diego Engineering Council 2004 Outstanding Engineering Project; and a finalist in the Association of California Water Agencies 2004 Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award for Excellence.
*****
About MWH
Headquartered in Broomfield, Colo., MWH is a private, employee-owned firm with approximately 6,000 employees worldwide. The company provides water, wastewater, energy, natural resource, program management, consulting and construction services to industrial, municipal and government clients in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, India, Asia and the Pacific Rim. For more information about MWH, please visit the company’s Web site at www.mwhglobal.com.
