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Old     (mikeski)      Join Date: Aug 2003       08-02-2012, 5:14 PM Reply   
I just had a conversation with my buddy that sent chills up my spine. They were riding middle river on the Delta and had a beginner rider fall near this pumping station:

https://maps.google.com/maps/place?f...KoqJiALu14C4Cg

As he was idling back to pick her up he noticed she was moving sideways through the river toward the pumping station not down stream. Luckily he has lots of river rafting experience and immediately understood what was happening. She was close to the protection barrels by the time he made back to her. He tossed her the rope, she grabbed it just as the current pulled her under water and under the barrel line. While struggling she managed to get tangled in the rope and was stuck under the barrel with a tight line in the water as the she was getting sucked toward the pumps. It took them 10-15 seconds to loosen up the rope by backing-up the boat then she popped up on the other side of the barrel line. Two guys jumped in and pushed her over to the boat while holding on to the line (the boat was now against the barrels). The guys without a wakeboard strapped to their feet were able to swim out of the current and back to the boat.

A very frazzled boat crew made it away without anybody getting hurt. Had my buddy not been a veteran boater with 20+ years of boating experience the outcome could have been significantly different. He is still shaken.

STAY AWAY FROM THOSE PUMPING STATIONS!

There are two on Middle River and another on Victoria.

Last edited by mikeski; 08-02-2012 at 5:18 PM.
Old     (migs)      Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: SF Bay Area       08-02-2012, 6:06 PM Reply   
Wow! Thanks for the heads up.
I'm ALWAYS there. Gotta let my crew know to be extra careful around them
Old     (jarrod)      Join Date: May 2003       08-02-2012, 6:36 PM Reply   
Wow. Is it really possible to get sucked up into those pumps? If so, that's a tragedy just waiting to happen.
Old     (migs)      Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: SF Bay Area       08-02-2012, 8:04 PM Reply   
Possibly at certain times maybe?? I've been very close to the one at Vic's sitting waiting for the boat to pick me up literally
10ft or less from the wall, and also swimming right in front without a deck attached and never felt anything.
Old     (Dustfarter)      Join Date: Jun 2010       08-02-2012, 9:35 PM Reply   
According to my brother in law who is with Fish and Game on the Delta a whole bass boat got sucked through to the forebay not too long ago with two fishermen on it.
They both survived but the force of the suction pulled all their clothes off
If you think about it. Those pumps are powerful enough to reverse the flow of the delta ( against the tide) when they're running at full steam. I definitely try to stay up when riding by.........
Old     (mikeski)      Join Date: Aug 2003       08-02-2012, 10:08 PM Reply   
I have been there very often myself. I too have been close to them at times and never even noticed any difference in river flow. On other times I have noticed the boat being drawn slowly towards the safety barrels giving me a generally uncomfortable feeling but nothing that felt dangerous. My buddy (who will probably add his own version of the story to this posting tomorrow) said the tide was running extremely strong yesterday, see tide chart below. The tide was coming in swiftly and they were probably pumping at maximum capacity so this was probably the worst case scenario.
Attached Images
 
Old     (leaks)      Join Date: Oct 2005       08-03-2012, 10:10 AM Reply   
I do alot of scaffold work at the pump stations for both the Department of Water Resources, and CCWD. I personally have worked at the pump station on both Vics, and in Old River. Let me tell you, when those babies are up 100% and they get you in their grips....bad news can happen fast. While doing some maint. work on some pumps a few years ago near San Luis, a couple divers, accually got pinned against the intake when the pumps mysteriously started, and drowned because they could not move. Many safety checks are in place now, due to that incident. Rule #1 - Never drop or start from, or near any pump stations PERIOD!
Old     (leaks)      Join Date: Oct 2005       08-03-2012, 10:17 AM Reply   
View from the pump station at Vics
Attached Images
 
Old     (kybool)      Join Date: Aug 2004       08-03-2012, 9:46 PM Reply   
Man eating water pumps, yet another reason why The Delta = Awesome.
Old     (mikeski)      Join Date: Aug 2003       08-04-2012, 8:10 PM Reply   
I was confusing my rivers, the pumps are on old river (the one closer to Discovery Bay that goes to rivers end) not middle river (the one between ski beach and Union Pt).
Old     (Mike_McMillen)      Join Date: Sep 2011       08-07-2012, 10:56 AM Reply   
Yeah everyone needs to stay away from the delta... its way too dangerous, go to comanche and tulloch instead!
Old     (migs)      Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: SF Bay Area       08-07-2012, 12:58 PM Reply   
^^^exactly
Old     (ryanw209)      Join Date: Jan 2010       08-07-2012, 3:38 PM Reply   
If I'm not mistaken the video that Maur made of Derek Cook has some quick footage of a lot of debris moving toward one of those pumping stations. It's at the 2:00 mark:
Old     (lfadam)      Join Date: Nov 2008       08-07-2012, 4:01 PM Reply   
Can someone explain these pumps to us non-Californians? What is their purpose/how do they work? It sounds like they try to mitigate the tides or something?
Old    LR3w8kbrdr            08-07-2012, 4:09 PM Reply   
What the hell is the delta? Guess i should google this place lol

I'll stick to the gators we have here in FL vs big a** pumps sucking ranger bass boats and stripping clothes off people
Old     (detonate69)      Join Date: Apr 2001       08-07-2012, 9:19 PM Reply   
Those pumps are the reason Los Angeles has water. They steal ours in northern Cali. Turn them off and LA becomes a barren wasteland. Lol.

Well it's atleast partially true. Lol.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Old     (Michael)      Join Date: Mar 2010       08-08-2012, 12:36 AM Reply   
So I am going to try to clarify this on my cellphone since I was a project engineer on Victoria island intake and pump station for CCWD.

Most of you are worried that there is some large pipe that's going to suck you in and shred you in a pump.. I'm sure of this...Don't be scared. Actually it's pumps are housed in tubes way back from the grate you see from the water. The way the engeer designed the
Station is to vertually eliminate a current on victoria and still abide by strict environmental regulations. Water flows into a galley were it sits then gets pumped into the pumps. I guess a picture is the only way to describe this. You would have to be a crappy swimmer and find your way through the fish screen and multiple other screens before you die.

http://www.provenmanagement.com/inde...proj_detail/60

Now I can't speak for the pump on middle river, I just stay away from that old ass station.
Old     (Michael)      Join Date: Mar 2010       08-08-2012, 12:43 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by detonate69 View Post
Those pumps are the reason Los Angeles has water. They steal ours in northern Cali. Turn them off and LA becomes a barren wasteland. Lol.

Well it's atleast partially true. Lol.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
You have it all wrong
You should thank contra costa water district for these stations. These stations are for contra costa to store water in the reservoir on vasco (forgot the name). Due to
Environmental crap we have a small window to pump water up there. Middle river could not fill it fast enough with the time allotted so we built the station on vics. Ran a line from there to connect to the existing line on middle river and feed our water need in contra costa.
Old     (ryanw209)      Join Date: Jan 2010       08-08-2012, 9:49 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael View Post
You have it all wrong
You should thank contra costa water district for these stations. These stations are for contra costa to store water in the reservoir on vasco (forgot the name). Due to
Environmental crap we have a small window to pump water up there. Middle river could not fill it fast enough with the time allotted so we built the station on vics. Ran a line from there to connect to the existing line on middle river and feed our water need in contra costa.
Los Vaqueros Reservoir...
Old     (Michael)      Join Date: Mar 2010       08-08-2012, 12:44 AM Reply   
My explanation sucked but that's the best you guys get from me tonight.
Old     (srock)      Join Date: Mar 2002       08-08-2012, 6:09 AM Reply   
I heard a saying from a friend who was working for California Water...which direction does water flow?...Toward money.
Old     (Francois)      Join Date: Aug 2012       08-09-2012, 2:49 PM Reply   
Finally, I had time and was able to log in to the forum.

I am the one who this very scary experience happenned . Basically I had a young 18 years old gild with vary little experience wakeboarding in the water (but she had gone up earlier in the day). She had difficulty going up and the current was taking both of us down river where suddenly she was vis-a-vis the pump station about 40 feet away from the barrels barrier when I notice that she started floating sideways towards the barrels barrier, I told her we needed to get her out of the water and that we would go somewhere else. She let go on the handle and I had to turn around to get to her. By the time I got to her, she was very close to the barrels. She grabbed the handles but got sucked under the barrels. Not sure what happenned but she was not coming back up on the other side and was stuck under. I notice that there was tension on the wakeboard line and try to pull on it but is seems stuck. I move the boat close to the barrels without gong too close as I was afraid she might be under the boat. The slack in the Line allowed her to pop out on the other side. She was crying (good sign) but seems in distress. I gave to boat to my friend and jumped over the barrels to her and discover she was tangle in the rope. I held the rope and her, got her untangle and calmed her down. Another boat came and threw us a rope. They roped us into their boat and we both got out OK. My crew was able to get the wakeboard rope back not my boat (it was not stock on anything.

All I can thing is that went the girl was pull under by the pump current she got tangle in the rope and was help under until I gave some slack.... She was probably under for 20 to 30 sec. But it seems like an eternity . This was a very dangerous situation and wanted to let everyone know to be aware of the danger. The artificial current created by the pump is not a danger by itself but it is strong enought to pull under the barrels someone with a life jacket and a wakeboard . If the tide had been low, she might also have been caught under the barrels with not enought space to comeback on the other side. Without the rope, she might have been caught on the other side in the net about 75 feet from the barrels and drown from the current.

I have a lot of experience boating in the delta and in addition, I have experience river rafting, kayaking and water in general ( life guard and scuba). I consider myself lucky that this episode did not turn out to be tragic. Not sure what needs to happen next but we need to post some warning side when the pumps are activated. Current is a very dangerous thing, especially when they are man made with man made obstacle (barrels)

Please be careful
Old     (denystaucd)      Join Date: Feb 2003       08-10-2012, 4:34 PM Reply   
Francois - I'd highly encourage you and anyone else who experienced going under the barrels to notify Contra Costa Water District. They may not even know this occurs and this has to be the 4 or 5th time I heard about this. That place has been the same for years (20+ years I can remember), maybe they can look into community safety with some newer and better floats, signage, etc. In the last 5 years that area has been growing in popularity with boater (Old River), I've only used it as a pass through to straighter sloughs and cringe anytime I see downed riders near the facility.

This person is in charge of the region the pump are in for the water district.
Division 5 Director Vice-President Karl L. Wandry
http://www.ccwater.com/atwork/division5.asp

Cheers,
DC

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