News Release Archive

Reclamation Awards $3.0 Million Contract to Pipestone Equipment, LLC to Return Yuma Mesa Conduit Pipeline to Original Flow Capacity

Media Contact: Doug Hendrix , (928) 343-8145, dhendrix@usbr.gov

For Release: September 30, 2011

The Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Department of the Interior, has awarded a $3 million contract to Pipestone Equipment LLC of Golden, Colo., to provide materials for the repair and structural upgrading of the 14.6 mile-long Yuma Mesa Conduit near Yuma, Ariz.

In announcing the contract award today, Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor said that the project will correct sediment buildup and structural problems which have resulted in reduced flows of the conduit pipeline.

"Across the Bureau of Reclamation, we are looking for new and innovative ways to improve the efficiency of water delivery by upgrading critical infrastructure," Commissioner Connor said today. "The federal investment in this vital project will create jobs and help to restore the Yuma Mesa Conduit to its original design flow capacities."

Reclamation operates several drainage well systems in the Yuma area to control local groundwater levels. These systems help Reclamation to meet contractual obligations with area water districts for draining irrigated lands, provide irrigation districts with the means to receive credit for the flows returned to the irrigation system or Colorado River, and fulfill treaty obligations of water delivery to Mexico.

The Yuma Mesa Conduit was installed in 1970 as part of the Colorado River Ground Water Recovery and River Regulation Program. Previous inspections and analysis of the pipe identified the causes of the reduced flow capacity leading to conceptual designs and cost estimates to rehabilitate the system. With this funding, the contractor will provide new carbon steel tanks with dipping tubes, air release vessel chambers with bladders and precast concrete manhole sections to improve the existing groundwater drainage flow system.

Pipestone Equipment LLC is a small business contractor and supplier of municipal and industrial water conveyance products. Using a formula developed in 2009 by the Council of Economic Advisors to calculate the impact of federal investment, the Yuma Mesa Conduit Pipeline project could generate approximately 34 direct and indirect jobs for one year.

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