North Bay Aqueduct Hydraulic Analysis

Bookman-Edmonston (B-E), a division of GEI Consultants, Inc., performed a hydraulic analysis of the portion of the California State Water Project that provides water to users in the North San Francisco Bay area known as the North Bay Aqueduct (NBA).

The NBA was constructed in two phases. An interim pumping plant, permanent pipeline and surge tanks were constructed in the early 1960s to provide federal project water to the city and county of Napa and surrounding areas.

In the mid-1980s, the project was completed with the construction of a pumping plant on Barker Slough in southeastern Solano County to bring Sacramento River water through a 72- and 66 inch pipeline to other Solano County areas and to Napa’s interim facilities. A replacement pumping plant was constructed near the interim Napa pumping plant to transfer State Water Project water to Napa, Benicia, Vallejo, and other users in southwestern Solano and Napa Counties.

The project included evaluating the NBA’s hydraulic and structural capacity, which led to the realization that the present system is incapable of delivering contracted amounts of water for the end users. This realization has led to a third project phase that includes conducting hydraulic testing of the NBA as detailed pump performance and precise “as constructed” system information is not available. This testing, when completed, will allow very accurate calibration of a computerized model and provide the user agencies with hard data to further evaluate options to increase water deliveries.