On August 23, 2020, a summer thunderstorm moved into the St. George, Utah area and rain began to fall throughout the City of St. George (City) and neighboring cities. This intense rainfall event caused significant flooding in the urban areas of St. George City damaging homes, causing erosion to the waterways, and leaving a significant amount of sediment for the City to clean up. The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) contacted the City to provide funding through their Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program to help mitigate the damages from this August 2020 storm event. Bowen Collins & Associates (BC&A) worked with the City and NRCS to identify four sites to construct flood mitigation and damage repairs for this St. George EWP Project. These sites/projects are identified as follows:
Site 1 – Virgin River Restoration – erosion bank protection along the Virgin River in Bloomington area of the City.
Site 2 – Middleton Floodwall – a new floodwall near the Middleton area of the City.
Site 3 – Red Hills Debris Basin – a new debris basin near the intersection of Hwy 18 and Red Hills Parkway.
Site 4 – Industrial Park Debris Basins – One new debris basin and improvements to existing basins in the St. George Industrial Park. This site is further subdivided as follows:
- North Industrial Park Debris Basin – a single 45.6 ac-ft debris basin constructed from an embankment placed on Rim Rock Wash in the northern portion of the St. George Industrial Park.
- South Industrial Park Debris Basin – improvements to two existing excavated debris basins located at the southern end of the St. George industrial Park, near the storage yard for the St. George City Water and Energy Services departments.
BC&A’s services on this project included environmental permitting and all required surveys, hydrologic and hydraulic design, structural design, and construction observation and management.
Bowen Collins & Associates led the planning, design, and construction period services for the Sevier Bridge Dam Rehabilitation Project. Owned and operated by the CSBR Company in Delta, Utah, the Sevier Bridge Dam has been impounding Sevier River water for over 120 years and is the largest privately-owned reservoir in Utah. The reservoir serves as the primary storage of irrigation water to sustain tens of thousands of acres of agricultural land and the cooling water required to operate the Intermountain Power Plant.
BC&A utilized advanced modeling software to identify that the dam’s spillway and earthen embankment were deficient in meeting minimum standards for flood and seismic events. This project entailed the design of a new roller gate spillway to resolve the flow capacity issues, and the innovative solution of utilizing granular columns to stabilize the downstream embankment toe, a technology new to dams in Utah. Most challenging, the technical construction effort had to be completed without interfering with the dam’s critical role of storing and delivering water to the lower Sevier River water users.
Culminating in a $22,000,000 construction project with Ames Construction, the project was delivered with less than 2.5% change orders despite surviving Utah’s wettest winter on record without wasting any spring runoff storage. The Sevier Bridge Dam Rehabilitation Project won the 2025 ACEC Utah Grand Conceptor Award and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials 2025 National Rehabilitation Project of the Year.
The DMAD Canal Company contracted Bowen Collins & Associates for the design planning, design, permitting, bidding, and construction period services for the Spillway Replacement Project on the DMAD Reservoir. The new design required spillway that was equipped to pass the probable maximum flood and constructed to resist future erosion with increased foundation stability. After multiple spillway configurations modeling iterations, an 8-cycle concrete labyrinth weir spillway was selected. This labyrinth configuration increased the effective weir length of the spillway to 1,200-ft contained within a 293-ft span. Hydraulic modeling of the new structure allowed BC&A to further optimize the spillway chute and stilling basin to ensure that the project’s flow capacity and stability requirements were met while keeping project costs down.
BC&A managed and designed the expansion of a one-acre plaza and concession area located east of the existing Sandy City Amphitheater. The new multi-level plaza creates inviting spaces for community gatherings and vendor activities, anchored by a modern concession building that complements the architectural style of the amphitheater. The design integrates retaining walls, ambient lighting, and an organic aesthetic with full ADA accessibility. As part of the project, the existing parking lot was retrofitted to include Low Impact Development (LID) landscape islands for stormwater retention, along with xeriscape design and water-wise plantings that enhance sustainability throughout the site.
Orem City selected Bowen Collins & Associates (BC&A) to lead the design and engineering of a new underground 10-million-gallon concrete water storage tank, a major water infrastructure project located at 400 South and 400 West. The project includes a new underground 10-million-gallon concrete water storage tank, a pump station, and a water well house, all designed to support community growth and enhance the city’s water supply reliability and resilience. To ensure long-term durability and system integrity, all tank yard piping is protected with specialized coatings and a galvanic cathodic protection system. The overall project includes a well house and a booster pump station, both designed by others. BC&A designed the landscaping for the entire project.
Honoring the site’s past as a historic orchard, the park design incorporates a heritage-farm theme that reflects the area’s agricultural roots. Custom play equipment mimics elements of the orchard and farm life, offering both imaginative recreation and a visual connection to the land’s history. Interpretive signage throughout the park tells the story of the former orchard, helping visitors understand the site’s transformation over time. The restrooms and site furnishings also follow the orchard-inspired aesthetic, using materials, colors, and architectural forms reminiscent of traditional farm structures. In addition to play areas, the park features water conservation demonstration gardens, open green space, and parking for neighborhood use.
Jordanelle Special Service District contracted with BC&A to perform the design of a new surface water treatment plant taking raw water from the Provo River just downstream of Jordanelle Reservoir. The design portion included the initial treatment evaluation study, water quality testing programs, 3 months of pilot testing, budgetary planning, preliminary design, and final design. The current phase of the project is to construct 4 MGD worth of treatment on the site using a conventional coagulation/sedimentation and filtration treatment approach. Future phases will expand the capacity in this facility to 8 MGD, and eventually 16 MGD in a future building. This facility also includes the pumps, piping, and equipment to pump up to 10,000 gpm to a nearby ski resort for snowmaking operations. Construction on the project began in March 2022 and is scheduled to be completed in September 2024.
Bowen Collins & Associates (BC&A) completed the design, environmental permitting and construction management of 1,200 linear feet of the Dry Creek channel realignment near the Sandy City South Town Mall to accommodate future development, provide public open space, mitigate 100-year flood concerns, and connect Monroe Street from 10200 South to 10600 South and I-15. BC&A completed environmental compliance, including an extensive Individual Permit with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Salt Lake County Flood Control permitting and a State of Utah Stream Alteration permit. The project goals were to enhanced riparian habitat, develop a pedestrian trail that connects Dimple Dell to the Jordan River Parkway Trail, provide a pedestrian bridge over Dry Creek, and create a park for leisure and recreational use.
BC&A completed redesign of the existing Utah Lake Pump Station located at the outlet of Utah Lake. The construction of the project was completed in 2013. The historic pump station, which remains in place, is over 100 years old. The new pump station is located adjacent to the historic pump station and currently has (4) operating and (1) future 350 HP vertical propeller type pumps, each with a capacity of 200 cfs, for a total of 360,000 gpm (800 cfs). The project also included design of a new intake and pump house, maintenance shop, and operator’s residence. The project included significant hydraulic 3D computer modeling and a physical model was built and tested at the Utah State Water Research Laboratory to model the pump station intake hydraulics. As part of the project, BC&A completed the environmental permitting and environmental compliance for the project which included Section 7 consultation for the threatened and endangered June Sucker and 404 permitting with the Corps of Engineers and that State of Utah. BC&A also provided full-time construction management. The project was completed in 2013, it was on schedule and under the $6.7 million bid pricing.
Terminal Reservoir is owned and operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy (District). It was constructed in 1950 and provides drinking water and fire protection storage for Salt Lake City and unincorporated Salt Lake County. The pre-existing tanks were 2 (20 MG each) reinforced concrete reservoirs that did not meet present-day seismic design criteria and approached its design life. The District began planning for replacement of the reservoir in 1998 and worked through the detailed planning and design phases of the project over a three-year period from 2008 to 2011.
Final design of the project was completed in August 2011 and construction began in December 2011. The project was planned for construction in five phases over a period of approximately seven years in order to maintain critical drinking water storage and fire protection storage throughout the construction period. The first phase consisted of replacing and making connections to critical supply pipelines at the site, including the 69-inch diameter Salt Lake Aqueduct constructed in the 1940s and the 54-inch diameter Big Cottonwood Conduit, constructed in 1908. The second phase included the replacement of existing chlorination facilities at the site with a new onsite sodium hypochlorite generation system and associated building, to boost chlorine residual in drinking water supplied from the site. The third phase consisted of construction of a new 9 MG reservoir. In the fourth phase, the existing 20 MG Terminal Reservoir North was demolished and replaced with a dual-cell, 28 MG reservoir. In the fifth and final phase, the existing 20 MG Terminal Reservoir South was demolished and was replaced with an 11 MG reservoir, which is designed with capability for expansion to 22 MG when required to meet future demands. Construction of the project was completed in 2018.
