Barracuda Dredge Working in Arizona Canal
The power cable with special floats installed.
The 4160-volt shore-mounted substation DSC delivered to provide power to the dredge.
The power cable with floats installed next to the polyethylene pipeline. The discharge pipeline sinks when filled with material and floats when empty.
The San Carlos Irrigation and Drainage District (SCIDD) in Coolidge Arizona has purchased an electrically powered Barracuda Class dredge from DSC Dredge LLC to maintain the settling basin at the headworks of the Ashurst-Hayden Diversion Structure on the Florence-Casa Grande Canal.
The swinging-ladder dredge is equipped with a Metso Minerals Marathon 12×10-32 pump which discharges through a 10-inch polyethylene pipe to shore.
DSC provided the SCIDD with a 4160-volt shore-mounted substation to provide power to the dredge. The substation is placed atop skids on a DSC-supplied concrete slab. Power is transmitted by floating cable to the dredge where an onboard transformer reduces it to 400 volts to run the dredging equipment. The line is floated on specially designed cable floats.
Control is through a PLC-based operating system. Other standard features are a stern kicking spud for positioning and maneuvering a power up/power down spud system for the three spuds and API-rated winch drums which ensure that the winches meet the required cable storage capacity.
In this application the dredge will remain in the 15-foot-deep settling basin constantly dredging the incoming silt.
The Gila River is an important source of irrigation water for the area and for the Gila River Indian Community but it carries quite a bit of sediment. To address the sedimentation problem the river water is redirected through the 1800-foot-long 100-foot-wide Florence-Casa Grande Canal into the settling basin where the dredge removes the silt. The sedimentfree water then spills over the end of the basin and is channeled back into the river.
“The Barracuda Class electric dredge is a crucial piece of the San Carlos Irrigation Project and is far better for the local environment than diesel power” Director of Sales at DSC Dredge Charles Johnson said. The irrigation project includes delivery canals that carry irrigation water from the Gila River and central Arizona to agricultural lands in the SCIDD and Gila River Indian Community. Removing the sediment from the settling basins is critical to the program’s success.
