Shimmick Construction Co. is general contractor under a $373.8-million design-bid-build contract for San Diego's North City Pure Water Facility and Pump Station—a 30-million-gallon-per-day plant that is part of the Pure Water San Diego Program. That effort aims to bolster the city supply of local water and reduce dependence on water imported from the Northern California Bay Delta and drought-plagued Colorado River.

plant will use a five-step process—including ozonation, biological activated carbon filters, membrane filtration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with advanced oxidation—to purify recycled water from the city’s reclamation plant to drinking-water standards. It will be transported via the pump station to the city's Miramar Reservoir to undergo more purification before being delivered to users.

The project is currently at 73% completion, set to finish in spring 2026, with most of its underground piping done and the bulk of the concrete structures built, says Jimmy Draper, Shimmick southwest division vice president. The focus now is on the scope of services for mechanical and electrical systems.

Also on the project are a Parsons-Black & Veatch team as construction manager; Carollo Engineers as designer of record; and Stantec as program management consultant.

The plant forms part of the $1.5-billion first phase of the Pure Water progam. Phase two will add capacity for purifying an additional 53 mgd, with costs still being prepared. Almost half of the city’s local water supply will come from the progam by 2035. It's the “largest integrated infrastructure program … San Diego has ever undertaken,” according to the city.