Shifting how southern Sacramento County farms stay irrigated

Harvest Water Program - Elk Grove and Franklin/Eschinger Pipelines

The Sacramento Area Sewer District (SacSewer) is taking water reuse for agricultural lands to the next level with their Harvest Water Program. The program aims to reduced pumped groundwater demands and detrimental aquifer impacts with recycled water to irrigate up to 16,000 acres (3,475 hectares) of farmland in southern Sacramento County.

SacSewer engaged us to provide design engineering services through construction, commissioning, and closeout for the two major transmission pipelines that form the backbone of the program—Elk Grove Transmission Pipeline (EGTP) and Franklin/Eschinger Pipeline (FEP). Together, they span 15 miles (24 kilometres) and pass through everything from busy City of Elk Grove streets and railroad crossings to rural farmland.

As part of this effort, we managed and designed eight microtunnel trenchless crossings, mapped 175 utilities, developed detailed traffic control constraints, and ran a comprehensive geotechnical exploration program to mitigate risk. Our team also created early deliverable packages for railroad crossing permit approvals to start construction sooner.

The pipelines are currently under construction and expect to be completed in the spring of 2026. The program is expected to deliver up to 50,000 acre-feet (6,164 hectare-metres) of tertiary treated wastewater each year from the EchoWater Resource Recovery Facility. The California Water Commission recognized the effort with $280.5 million in grant funding to implement the program.