Estimation of Water Pipe Installation Construction Costs
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 9, Issue 3
Abstract
With the nation currently experiencing record droughts and water shortages in the western and southwestern states, the importation of water via large-diameter pipe transmission systems from distant more reliable sources is becoming a viable option. As drought conditions worsen, engineers and water planners will need efficient cost models to plan and design these large water transmission systems. To address these challenges, a Water pipe installation COnstruction CoST Estimation model (WaterCOSTE) has been developed to estimate the installed pricing for various pipe materials and diameters under a wide range of bury and embedment conditions. The WaterCOSTE model uses a bottom-up pricing approach commonly used by contractors to estimate installed pricing for high-density polyethylene (HDPE), PVC, ductile iron, and steel water pipe. WaterCOSTE is used to estimate installed pricing for a potential large-scale real-world water transmission project in northeastern Arizona. Pipe material cost and pressure class are found to be significant cost factors, followed by embedment type, soil type, and bury depth. A cost comparison based on pressure class was performed for the candidate materials.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Homer Chee at CheeNorthstar Construction, LLC, for providing valuable insight into the construction methods for installing water pipe and contributing to the development of installation rates; Brian Lansey at The Ashton Company, Inc. and Bill Carney at Granite Construction, Inc. for providing pipe installation production data. The authors would also like to thank the following for providing budgetary pipe pricing: Zach Craven at ISCO Industries and Craig Freeman at HD Supply Waterworks (for HDPE); Jonathan Chorley at Diamond Plastics Corporation and Jonathan Raymer at AEGION (formerly Underground Solutions, Inc.; for PVC); Ramiro Guzman at AMERICAN Cast Iron Pipe Company and James Imper at US Pipe (for DI); and Mike LaBroad at Northwest Pipe Company (for steel). Lastly, the authors would like to thank the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—Indigenous Graduate Partnership, Gates Millennium Scholarship, and the Navajo Nation for providing research funding.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 9 • Issue 3 • August 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 10, 2017
Accepted: Jan 19, 2018
Published online: May 8, 2018
Published in print: Aug 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Oct 8, 2018
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