City of Phoenix Superior Pipeline PCCP Failure and Emergency Repair

The City of Phoenix is currently in a multi-year program to investigate 150 miles of prestressed concrete cylinder pipelines (PCCP). The failure of a 60-inch pipeline focused the efforts of the investigation to a pipeline know as the "Superior" pipeline. On October 3, 2006, an early morning failure of a large diameter pipeline occurred within an industrial area of the City of Phoenix. The pipeline failure was a result of corroded prestressing wires that weakened the strength of the pipeline to the point that failure was eminent. Rupture of the pipeline occurred at full operating pressure resulting on catastrophic failure, flooding and property damage. The City of Phoenix emergency response team removed the pipeline from service, assessed the damage, developed and executed a plan to repair the pipeline, and repaired the damage to the surrounding community. Although the damage was extensive, the emergency response team was able to repair the pipeline and restore the community in an expeditious time frame. This paper focuses on the efforts taken by the City of Phoenix during the failure and repair including: 1) Emergency response planning procedures, 2) Maintaining uninterrupted customer service, 3) Community relations and damage control, 4) Repair of failed and compromised pipelines, 5) Failure causes and forensic investigations. Through comprehensive emergency planning and immediate team response, the City of Phoenix successfully met the needs of an emergency situation to maintain the service and satisfaction of their customers.