SoCal needs Corps’ SARI Line
By Greg Fuderer

Anyone who has ever driven highway 91 where San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties meet knows how bad the traffic can be. The California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) reports an average of more than a quarter million vehicles travel daily along that 12-lane segment of the freeway next to Prado Dam.

There’s another type of thoroughfare that parallels the same section of freeway. It also carries a huge volume of traffic. Thus far, it hasn’t experienced the backups and SigAlerts that are the bane of Southern California’s roadway commuters. While few are probably aware of its existence, even fewer are aware of its importance. But without the SARI Line, life in much of the three-county area, and possibly far beyond, could come to a screeching halt.
 
The SARI (Santa Ana Regional Interceptor) Line is a 92-mile pipeline running from a point near San Bernardino to its conclusion at Huntington Beach, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. Designed to transport up to 30 million gallons, the SARI line moves desalter concentrate and non-reclaimable industrial wastewater that would otherwise contaminate groundwater or overtax local sewage facilities. The SARI Line transports highly-salinated water, that would devastate the local environment if discharged directly, and delivers it to a treatment plant to bring it within federal and state environmental guidelines before discharging it to the Pacific Ocean.

Just as use and environmental factors affect the adjacent freeway, they also affect the SARI Line’s structural integrity and its ability to perform its required functions. Those outside influences were evident in January 2005 when parts of Southern California received near-record rainfall. Water in the basin behind Seven Oaks Dam, which had been completed in 1999, quickly rose, submerging the 294–foot tall intake tower under more than 100 feet of water. Prado Dam, in the midst of a major modification project, was similarly affected. Water there rose to the second-highest level on record, overtopping a dike built to protect the construction of the dam’s new outlet works and raising fears in the local community that the dam itself could collapse. All that water behind those two massive structures had to go somewhere. That somewhere was down the Santa Ana River to the Pacific Ocean. To get there, it had to go next to and over the SARI Line, buried adjacent to, and in some cases beneath, the Santa Ana River.

To deal with the vast amount of water, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased discharges from Prado Dam to a record 10,000 cubic feet per second. That unprecedented rate of flow exposed sections of the SARI Line and required the Corps to cut back on discharges from Prado Dam. It became evident that water managers could not optimally manage the two dams for flood protection and provide maximum protection for the SARI Line.

In October 2007, Los Angeles District Commander Col. Thomas Magness IV sat at the business end of the table at the Prado Construction Office. Joining him were representatives from the Orange County Resources Development Management District, Orange County Water District, Orange County Sanitation District, Riverside Flood Control District and the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.
 
“From Day One, I’m expected to make decisions that affect others far beyond the Army Corps,” said Magness, two months into his tour as the Los Angeles District Commander. “I appreciate this dialog so that I can make an informed decision.”

The discussion between Magness and the other representatives addressed the current SARI Line situation, the potential for impact by adverse weather and preparations the agencies could take in order to respond quickly and effectively if necessary. Chief among the issues was the possibility of securing pre-approval for the permits that would be necessary to conduct emergency work prior to the flood season, identifying potential sources to pre-position rocks near areas susceptible to damage, and evaluating what levels of flow in the river would be acceptable to allow workers to assemble a bypass pipe for temporary operation while the SARI Line is being repaired.