Sanitary District Opens Creek Park Path

The Ross Valley Sanitary District announced the completion of its extensive Kentfield Force Main replacement project last week. The Kentfield Force Main, which runs in the berm along the creek from the pump station behind College of Marin to Bon Air Road, was replaced over the course of the last year and half at a cost of $9 million.

The Kentfield Force Main serves 60% of the Ross Valley Sanitary District, which includes Larkspur, Kentfield, San Anselmo, Fairfax, and Ross, and can carry up to 50 million gallons during heavy rains. The large Techite pipe was replaced by two parallel, smaller pipes of flexible, high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

after an older Techite pipe, which was being replaced, cracked in November and December.

Techite pipe was widely used in the 1970s (the Kentfield Force Main was installed in 1972) and was considered state-of-the-art, only for the pipe material to begin failing years later. Two other failings in the force main last fall were repaired before the last crack was discovered in last November. 

total last December in the same area were initially thought to be because of another Techite failure, but were later .

The new pipe and pump station replacement included the replacement of four culverts in the creek, at the request of the Friends of Corte Madera Creek, as well as the refurbishment of the running path along the creek that was closed during some of the construction.

"This is one of the largest projects the district needed to do," said General Manager Brett Richards in an email.

Richards, according to The Marin Independent Journal, received a $9,850 bonus this year and three year contract extension after foregoing bonuses the last two years .

There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony and creek clean-up, weather permitting, at 11 a.m. this Saturday, Dec. 10 on the northeast side of the creek, north of Bon Air Road.

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