City of Taylor Rehabilitates 60-Year-Old Cast Iron Mains via Pre-Chlorinated Pipe Bursting

The city of Taylor, located in Wayne County, Michigan, serves a population north of 60,000 residents and, like many municipalities in the U.S. with aging and undersized infrastructure, they are experiencing systemic water system failures that require major system updates. For the city of Taylor, most of these recurring failures are happening in their residential neighborhood distribution piping, which consist of 60-year-old 6-inch cast iron water mains. The city with the help of their consultant, Wade Trim Engineering, decided that since the pipe issues were systemic and replacement of those water mains would require a larger diameter pipe, the preferred method of rehabilitation would be pre-chlorinated pipe bursting with the installation of an upsized 8-inch DR 18 fusible polyvinyl chloride pipe (FPVCP). This method meant less disruption to the homeowners’ property, provided a discrete water shut-off and disruption schedule for homeowners, and kept the installation of the new main within road rights-of-way and existing easements. Since the start of the project in September 2016, Bidigare Contractors have installed over 35,000 feet of 8-inch DR 18 FPVCP and 1,000 feet of 12-inch DR 18 FPVCP. This paper will review the basic steps and process for the pre-chlorinated pipe bursting method being used in Taylor. It will also review the results of the project construction and the program in general.