Earthquakes, Fires, and Landslides, Oh My! Pipeline Replacements in a Hazard-Prone, California Neighborhood

East Bay Municipal Utility District (District) is constructing a multiphase high-density polyethylene (HDPE) water main replacement project in a fire-seismic geohazard zone known as the Panoramic Hill, located in the Cities of Berkeley and Oakland, California. The pipeline replacements are part of a $12M water system improvement project for Panoramic Hill, which is a historic residential neighborhood with narrow, winding roads and only one entrance where traffic is limited to one direction at a time. Given its proximity to open vegetated space and challenging access for fire departments, the neighborhood has an extreme high fire risk. Additionally, the Hayward Fault Zone traverses the lower portion of the neighborhood. To improve the reliability of the area’s domestic and emergency water service, the District will replace approximately 7,800 ft of primarily 4-in. unlined cast iron water mains with 2- to 12-in. HDPE pipelines. This paper will discuss the project’s planning and design phases, including the District’s full-scale HDPE testing to verify the minimum bend radius for installation of electrofusion service saddles. This paper will also provide insight on multi-city coordination and lessons learned through the permitting process, detail some preliminary construction challenges and how they were addressed, and outline next steps for the project and for the District.