Bear Valley Sign
This CDF station is located south of Hollister in the rugged, scenic area of the Pinnacles National Monument. The California Department of Forestry staffs and maintains this station as a jumping-off point for fire fighting and emergency rescue services around the area. The station is comprised of a Heli-Tack (fire-fighting helicopter) station, a large barracks for the CDF fire fighters and staff, a kitchen area, mechanic's shop, offices, and work areas. The station's numbers vary with the season, with more than 40 CDF staffers on-site during the peak fire-fighting season and lesser numbers in the winter and early spring.
The station was plagued with poor quality water for years. The water, from a single well a mile and half from the station, also supplies nearby cattle and is high in iron, manganese, hydrogen sulfide and salinity. Periodically, the water – so near a cattle pasture area – tested positive for coliform bacteria. A robust, fully-automatic system was needed to meet these demanding requirements. Working closely with the State's engineers, Clean Water Systems designed and installed a custom treatment plant to handle this troublesome water. The system, installed in early 1993, has been continually serviced and maintained by Clean Water Systems' technicians.
Bear Valley Sign
The main treatment plant is located near the well. The well water is chlorinated and then pumped into the raw water holding tank. After settling and contact time has been achieved, the water is pumped through an automatic, continuous-duty iron filtration system, into a clean-water holding tank. From the clean-water holding tank, the water is treated with a food-grade, polyphosphate corrosion inhibitor. From there it flows by gravity into a clear-well where a submersible pump pumps the water over 1.5 miles and up a hill over 80 feet in elevation to an underground concrete holding tank.
At this point the water is clean, disinfected and odor-free. The water is still very high in hardness, minerals and total dissolved solids. The water is re-pressurized with booster pumps and delivered to the offices, kitchen and barracks through a twin-tank, continuous-duty water softening system. At the cafeteria, and the barracks, heavy-duty reverse-osmosis systems purify the water of total dissolved solids (salinity) and allow pure water for cooking, drinking and other uses.
Schematics:
System Diagram
Photographs:
Chlorine/Pressure Tanks
Twin Softeners
