Water System Upgrades

The Zzyzx Desert Studies Center is located within the Mojave National Preserve. The California Desert Studies Consortium (CDSC) operates and manages the day to day operations of the facilities at the Zzyzx Complex. The entire facility is open to the public and they frequently have groups/classes of 10 to 50 individuals in residence at the complex. The complex did not have the water storage or flow requirements to allow for manual fighting of a structural fire. This project provided the necessary water system upgrades to achieve structural fire-fighting capacity utilizing manual fire suppression methods per NFPA 1142 for minimum water storage for firefighting. The improvements installed under this project included a 30,000-gallon reservoir and the associated piping and appurtenances to connect the new reservoir to the existing non-potable distribution network. Modifications to the existing pump and pump controls were required to allow for filling and maintaining of the fire suppression reservoir. Also installed were two new fire hydrants within the complex, onto tees installed during the Zzyzx Water Distribution Project that was constructed in 2010.

All Fire Protection System improvements associated with this project needed to be analyzed during the Title I phase to ensure NFPA requirements were being met. The new improvements were modeled with the existing water system to ensure the system maintains a minimum 20 psi system pressure while meeting the NFPA 1142 Table 4.6.1 flow requirements of 1,000 gallons per minute at one hydrant. This project integrated a fire water reservoir with the existing Zzyzx water distribution network constructed in 2010. The existing pump/pump controls were modified to ensure the facility has access through two new fire hydrants to an adequate fire water supply to protect the life/safety of facility users and minimize the park’s risk of the loss of irreplaceable historic structures. Construction took place during the low visitation season and in close coordination with California State University – Fullerton’s user groups.