The Daily Dig
Placer County Water Agency has selected Carollo Engineers to provide construction management and SCADA programming for the Ophir Water Treatment Plant in Auburn, California. The Phase 1 build carries an estimated construction cost of $210 million, with groundbreaking anticipated for fall 2026 and operations targeted for 2030.
The new facility will sit on a 22-acre site along Ophir Road and deliver an initial 10 MGD of treated water capacity, enough to serve roughly 10,000 families. The site is master-planned to eventually scale to 30 MGD, giving PCWA room to expand in stages as demand grows across western Placer County. PCWA is the largest water service provider in Placer County, currently serving approximately 192,000 people.
The driving need is capacity. PCWA's Foothill Water Treatment Plant, its largest facility, runs near its operational limits during high-demand summer months. The Ophir WTP will relieve that pressure and add something PCWA currently lacks: scheduling flexibility. Once Ophir is online, PCWA gains roughly two additional months each year to perform upgrades and rehabilitation work at Foothill during lower-demand periods.
Carollo's scope covers schedule and cost tracking, inspection, documentation, project coordination, and SCADA programming. Funding is structured around water connection charges, with new development paying for the capacity it requires.
Snapshot:
Project: Ophir Water Treatment Plant (WTP), Phase 1
Owner: Placer County Water Agency (PCWA)
Construction Manager / SCADA Programming: Carollo Engineers
Location: Ophir Road, Auburn, California
Site Size: 22 acres
Phase 1 Capacity: 10 MGD
Ultimate Planned Capacity: 30 MGD
Estimated Construction Cost: $210 million
Sector: Public Water Infrastructure
Scope: New water treatment facility; construction management and SCADA programming
Construction Start: Fall 2026 (anticipated)
Estimated Completion: 2030
Families Served at Phase 1: Approximately 10,000
PCWA Total Service Population: Approximately 192,000
Funding Mechanism: Water connection charges
TheJobWalk Thoughts
A $210 million water treatment plant breaking ground in fall 2026 with a four-year build schedule represents a long runway of work for mechanical, electrical, civil, and instrumentation contractors in the northern California market. The general contractor was not identified in the Carollo release, and that's the firm to watch. Sub opportunities on a project this size flow through the prime, so tracking that award is the move for anyone looking to get positioned early.
The master-planned capacity ceiling of 30 MGD makes clear this site is not done after Phase 1. Future phases mean future construction management, future design, and future construction contracts. Firms that build relationships on this phase will carry a real advantage when subsequent work comes to market.
A public water investment of this scale also points to sustained population growth and long-term development activity in western Placer County, which has implications for every trade category that follows residential and commercial buildout in a growing region.
