Crews at Coronado's $32 million Parker Pump Station have finished the last underground piping work and will begin installing permanent generator conduits in the first week of September.
The contractor completed final modifications on the 54-inch and 24-inch storm water forcemains and the 6-inch sewer force main at the Eighth Street and Coronado Avenue site, according to a project update posted Aug. 27. Abandoned pipes were being slurry-filled the week of Aug. 27.
The generator conduit and grounding system installation marks the last major construction phase before the project wraps up.
Crews had already begun decommissioning the old pump station next door. The Coronado Times reported Aug. 20 that workers removed the pumps, mechanical equipment and electrical systems, and the remaining concrete shell was slurry-filled so the site can be used when a future pump station is eventually built there.
An earlier project update on Aug. 6 showed the contractor had demolished the upper portion of the old station's subterranean structure and was laying out the concrete pad for the permanent generator.
The new station itself is already running. City Manager Tina Friend told the City Council on Aug. 18 that the city had taken possession after the station passed a closed-loop water circulation test. "The new plant is up and operational, and the city took possession about a month ago," Friend said at that meeting, as the Coronado Times reported.
The pump station replaces a facility originally built in 1983. It collects stormwater from about 150 acres of the city and pumps sanitary sewage from the Country Club area into the main sewer line along Alameda Boulevard. Construction broke ground in 2023 and stretched past three years, partly because excessive rainfall in January 2024 flooded parts of Coronado and delayed progress.
Friend noted at the Aug. 18 meeting that the station's completion is timely, with forecasters warning of a potentially severe El Niño winter. She directed residents to the storm preparedness page on the Project Coronado website for tips and updates.
Once the generator conduit work wraps up, the final above-ground phase remains: grading, cleanup and a new publicly accessible green space where leashed dogs will be welcome. The city has targeted September or October to finish that work.
