Rainbow to replace Pump Station #1 motors

The motors on the Rainbow Municipal Water District's Pump Station No. 1 will be replaced.

A 3-0 Rainbow board vote Aug. 23, with Rich Bigley and Troy Walker absent, approved a design services contract with Infrastructure Engineering Corporation for up to $107,493. IEC, which has an Oceanside office, will prepare a full set of plans and specifications including multiple options for upgrades to the pump station.

Pump Station #1 conveys water from the North Zone to the Rainbow Heights Tank which is at 1,967 feet above sea level and has a capacity of 4 million gallons. Pump Station No. 1 includes two 250-horsepower pumps, one 290-horsepower pump, and one 300-horsepower pump. The four pumps create a total flow capacity of 3,509 gallons per minute.

The 300-horsepower and 290-horsepower pumps have natural gas engines. "It needs to be brought up to current standards," said Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy. "We're going to be replacing those with standard electric motors."

The natural gas motors are between 25 and 30 years old and are not compliant with current Air Pollution Control District standards. The replacement of the pumps will also have operating economic benefits for Rainbow. "The maintenance cost will go down," Kennedy said.

The replacement of the motors will also reduce Rainbow's electricity consumption and thus the district's energy costs.

Rainbow staff issued a request for proposals on June 14 for the design services contract to replace the pumps. IEC and Psomas submitted responses. The district staff determined that both firms were capable of performing the work but selected IEC.

The upgrade will remove the two natural gas engines and replace them with electric drives and soft start motor control centers. The motor control centers for the two existing electric motors will also be replaced with soft start control panels. The pump station's main incoming electrical panel will be replaced, and an emergency backup gas powered generator with an automatic transfer switch will be part of the design.