The Chula Vista G Street Sewer Pump Station: Powering a Bayfront Transformation Behind the Scenes

The Chula Vista Bayfront has evolved from an aging industrial and aerospace zone into a mixed-use destination surrounding the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center. As part of this broader transformation, the City of Chula Vista recognized that the G Street Sewer Pump Station required significant upgrades to serve the area’s growing needs. Ultimately, the rehabilitation of this station safeguarded public health and strengthened the utility backbone needed for long-term community investment.

Project Recognition

• 2026 American Public Works Association San Diego and Imperial Counties Chapter, Utility Project, $6 million to $25 million category

Creative Problem Solving in a Constrained Coastal Environment

Through preliminary and final design, construction phase services, and careful stakeholder coordination, Kimley-Horn helped turn a constrained utility site into a resilient waterfront space.

In an area beside the San Diego Bay with tidally influenced high groundwater, old fill soils, and historic contamination from aerospace uses, the ground itself in the City of Chula Vista required strategic evaluation and planning from the onset. Limited easement areas and active developments around the site presented further design and construction challenges for the project team.

The 172,000-gallon emergency storage tank could not fit on the pump station parcel, so space was reserved adjacent to a nearby parking structure. Because of difficult subsurface soil conditions, the project team used deep soil mixing and chemical grouting to create a sealed excavation area for the storage tank installation and reduce dewatering needs. The team also incorporated eight hours of average inflow storage—exceeding a typical six-hour standard—to better protect the nearby bay and wetlands in the event of a power outage or equipment failure.

We also integrated hazardous materials requirements early into the bid documents so contractors could accurately price and safely manage contaminated soil and groundwater. During construction, groundwater was treated before discharge to the sewer system, while excavated soils were stockpiled, tested, and routed to the appropriate disposal facilities based on contamination levels.

New-and-Improved Pump Station Design & Resilient Utility Improvements

Collaboration between our team, the City, and other stakeholders was especially important in balancing utility improvements with the broader bayfront master plan. Future sea level rise and 100-year storm scenarios had already shaped redevelopment elevations across the bayfront, but the pump station building could not simply be raised. Instead, our team provided structural and electrical engineering services, developing a targeted flood protection strategy that safeguards critical equipment with a wall and access gates. A prefabricated staircase over the wall also improves maintenance access, and an additional floodgate protects an unshielded building entrance.

The upgraded 2-million-gallons-per-day (MGD) Chula Vista G Street Sewer Pump Station includes two 15-horsepower submersible pumps and a 10-foot-diameter polymer concrete wet well selected for its resistance to corrosive sewer gases. Because the original suction lift configuration could no longer accommodate the lowered incoming sewer elevation, the new wet well and pumps provide a more reliable long-term solution.

A Utility Infrastructure Upgrade with Lasting Community Value

Substantially completed in the summer of 2025, the Chula Vista G Street Sewer Pump Station helps reduce the risk of sewage overflows near sensitive bay and wetland environments while improving resilience against coastal flooding and sea level rise. In addition, the project supports one of Southern California’s most visible waterfront redevelopments with dependable, modernized wastewater infrastructure that will support the City of Chula Vista for decades to come.