US company, Harza Engineering, teamed with Parsons Engineering Services, have announced that they have been selected to provide design services for the US$107M Olivenhain dam in San Diego.

The dam, which will be part of an emergency water storage project for the San Diego Water Authority, will be the first major RCC dam to be constructed in California, and the highest RCC dam to be built in the US.

It will create a 24,000acre-ft reservoir in the initial phase of a 12-year, US$710M project to ultimately provide over 90,000acre-ft of emergency water storage.

The project will be divided into four phases. The final phase will include raising the San Vicente dam by 54ft, constructing a new outlet tower, as well as providing piping and tunnelling through the dam, spillway and stilling basin.

Glen Tarbox, of the western division of Harza Engineering, will be project manager for the Parsons-Harza team.

Tarbox is reported to have extensive experience in the planning, design and construction management of dams and hydroelectric plants.