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Projects

This document was prepared for the February 15, 2025 Glide Water Association Member Meeting and briefly describes three major projects that the Glide Water Association has completed in 2024 or are working to complete in 2025.  These are:

  1. The Water Treatment Capacity Upgrade
  2. The repair of the damaged water main under the Hwy 138 Bridge over Little River
  3. The 20 Year Water Master Plan for 2025 to 2044
  4. The PIER Funding Projects for Back-Up Power Generators and New Intake Structure

1. Water Treatment Capacity Upgrade Project

The GWA has needed an increase in water treatment capacity to keep up with the growth of our community.  The last major upgrade in water treatment capacity was in 1992 with the addition of the current Roberts Reliant rapid sand water treatment unit.  During periods of heavy demand in June-September, there are times when the GWA plant cannot keep up with demand.

A new 175 gpm (gallons per minute) rapid sand water treatment unit from BWS will be installed alongside the current Roberts Reliant 175 gpm rapid sand water treatment unit.  Once the new BWS water treatment unit is up and running, the old Roberts unit will be taken off-line and refurbished.  When both water treatment units are running, they will be able to run in parallel and provide up to 350 gpm of water treatment for periods of heavy demand in the summer months. 

These two water treatment units will be very similar and be operated by a single control system.  When demand is reduced, typically October through May, the water treatment units will run in an alternating fashion.  This upgrade will require additional electrical power service at the plant.

The water intake on the North Umpqua River will also be updated.  Three 175 gpm pumps will be installed so that even during periods of heavy demand there will be a redundant (extra) pump in case one pump stops working.

Once the water treatment capacity upgrade is finished, the moratorium on new connections will be ended, allowing new homes and businesses to be connected to the Glide Water Association. 

The Water Treatment Capacity Upgrade project budget is $1,432,485.  Business Oregon has provided us with a 29% forgiveness of $415,460 and a loan of $1,017,025 with a term of 30-years at 1% interest.

Currently we are in the Construction Phase of the Project and are working on installing all of the upgrades to our Water Treatment Plant. It is our hope that the project will be completed by November 2025.

 

2. Highway 138 Bridge Water Main Repairs Project

The GWA water main underneath ODOT’s Highway 138 Bridge over Little River was in urgent need of repair.  This critical piece of infrastructure connects our main 300,000-gallon water reservoir on Mountain View with the system.  The water main under the Hwy 138 Little River Bridge was discovered to be severely out of alignment, damaging the pipe and breaking several of the hangers that hold the pipe to the bridge.  We do not know the root cause of this damage, but this section of ductile iron pipe was installed without expansion joints under the bridge. 

Civil West Engineering was engaged to manage this project and abide by ODOT’s requirements for the repairs of the waterline.  A site visit conducted by Civil West Engineering on March 7, 2024 confirmed that several of the hangers from the bridge had broken and the pipes are misaligned by more than 25 degrees in some cases.  The most probable cause of this damage was expansion/contraction of the waterline and bridge. 


This project included installing new 6″ ductile iron pipe with two expansion joints (one at each end of the bridge) and new heavy-duty pipe hangers under the bridge. The crews worked during the night replacing the pipe in three segments for three consecutive nights to avoid disrupting water service to businesses and residences. Construction began in late-February of 2024 and was completed in March of 2024.

We were awarded a bid from HP Civil of $236,122 for construction and $17,326 for engineering for a total project cost of $253,448 and was paid for with GWA savings. We tried to get grant funding for the project but due to the nature of the damage and the need for rapid repair we had to get the replacement done using our own source of funds.

 

3.Water Master Plan 2025-2044

It is a state requirement to submit an updated Water Master Plan every twenty years.  Civil West Engineering was engaged to complete an updated Water Master Plan for the GWA.  Business Oregon has also provided us grant funding of $20,000 for a portion of the costs of our updated Water Master Plan. With a completed Water Master Plan, we will be able to apply for more funding to help us complete additional projects for our water system. The remaining cost of the Water Master Plan is $80,000 and this will come from GWA savings. 

Civil West Engineering was able to submit a completed Water Master Plan to Oregon Health Authority for review in February 2025. We are still working with Oregon Health Authority for their approval of our updated Water Master Plan.

 

4. PIER Funding Projects – Back-up Generators and New Intake Structure

Glide Water Association originally applied for funding from Douglas County’s PIER Funding Program for our project regarding upgrading our water treatment capacity, but it was denied due to the supplementing of funds clause. The Board of Directors for Glide Water Association did not want to lose a precious funding opportunity and wanted to use the funding for other critical improvements to enhance the dependability of our water system for the Glide Community.

The Board of Directors created a plan for our water system to mitigate future disasters like the Archie Creek Wildfire. We procured Civil West Engineering to create a revised Water Master Plan to better outline other priority projects that would address the critical components of our water system that are in desperate need of improvement. Civil West Engineering’s research revealed that our water system is lacking a source of back-up power to keep the water system operational during periods of power outage or disaster. They also have noticed a great vulnerability while inspecting our river intake structure, revealing its lack of safety, durability, and inadequacy for expansion. 

Back-Up Power Generators Project: After Pacific Power made safety hazard changes to their power grids for rural areas like Glide, we experience more power outages now than before the Archie Creek Fire. Planned or unplanned power outages during the summer months, where fire danger is the highest, puts even more strain on Glide Water’s already exhausted water system, that is running 24hrs a day to just keep up with water user demand.

During power outages Glide Water Association is unable to operate our Treatment Plant, Intake Pumps, or booster pump stations. Without power to operate we must rely on whatever water storage reserves we have with the hope that it can last long enough until the power is restored. Unfortunately, we have encountered times where our water storage reserves were not enough. Our community members and emergency service providers not only had to endure having no power but no water as well.

Our project proposes that a single permanent generator would be installed at the Water Treatment Plant and Transfer switches would be installed at the River Intake and two booster Pump Stations (3 transfer switches in total). Proposed estimated costs for this project total $755,851.

New River Intake Structure: Glide Water Association’s is currently working on a project to upgrade our Water Treatment Capacity. A part of that project involves upgrading our river intake pumps to be able to produce a flow output of 350 gallons per minute. Our Engineers noticed that our intake lacked the ability to allow expansion, as well as structural safety hazards. For us to upgrade our river pumps we must reinforce the structure more securely and we must install bigger piping. We must also address the intake’s catwalk noncompliance with OSHA standards and make necessary structural changes to enable upgrades to our river pumps.

The project proposes widening the catwalk and platform for the intake as well as installing more robust railing along the catwalk and platform. Additional reinforcement will also need to be made to support the overall structure with more support beams. Piping would also need to be upgraded to allow for future river pump expansion, with larger pipes to allow more flow. Proposed estimated costs for this project total $256,925.00. The estimated price is very ballpark since a replacement would be fully custom fabricated, requiring design and engineering before submitting to a fabrication company for pricing.

We were awarded a total grant of $1,012,776.25 of CDBG-DR PIER Funding in October 2024 after receiving approval from Douglas County’s PIER Selection Committee and ultimately approval from the funding agency, Oregon Housing and Community Services, that is overseeing the PIER Funding Program.

These projects are currently still in the early design phase and are projected to be completed by April of 2026.