RMCI Inc., of Albuquerque, is closing in on finishing the rehabilitation of the sewer lift station at the west end of west Pueblo Drive.
Better known as the KDCE lift station, the double-pump station collects sewer gravity-fed into it from the west side of Riverside Drive, pressurizes it and sends it up to Riverside, allowing gravity to take it to the treatment plant.
Interim city manager Joe Duran said at a July 2 city of Española public works committee meeting the two pumps had been removed and sent to Albuquerque to be upgraded from 230 volts to 480.
Site supervisor Dean Martinez said Tuesday the upgrade in voltage makes the pumps more efficient.
Similar to three-phase wiring in a residence, the higher voltage pumps actually use less electricity through better efficiency.
Martinez was standing by a brand new generator, installed two weeks prior.
The generator needed to be raised on a concrete platform to keep it out of water.
“You dig down right here a foot-and-a-half and you’ll hit water,” Martinez said.
The generator is necessary so that the lift station continues uninterrupted operation when grid power goes dark.
Without power, the station would fill with sewage coming in by gravity.
He and his crew had earlier finished running a 4-inch bypass line from a temporary manhole 50 feet away, allowing them to connect the new electric control panels and rehab the existing lift station.
Martinez said he hoped to have the electric control panels connected this week.
The project began in June 2012 with a bid for the rehabilitation.
According to the city bid analysis, three companies bid on the project. RMCI won the bid with a $277,500.94 price tag. New Mexico underground Contractors, of Albuquerque, bid $313,851.94 and TLC, also of Albuquerque, bid $314,230.59.