Pipelines 2018: Utility Engineering, Surveying, and Multidisciplinary Topics

This paper describes the implementation of an automatic control system based on operational optimization, for city of Toronto and York Region Water Transmission System. The new automation system has been in operation since November 2015. The water supply system, serving a population of 3.4 million, is the largest in Canada and one of the largest in North America. The system consists of treated water pumping at four filtration plants, 18 pumping stations, 15 reservoirs/tanks, 126 pumps (up to 1,865 kW (2,500 hp)), and approximately 500 km (310 miles) of large transmission mains. While the city of Toronto and the region of York provide the water delivery/service requirements in a cost effective and uninterrupted manner, the complexity of the water system and the volatility and complex structure of the energy rates, present opportunities for benefitting from automation and further optimizing operations. As part of the new automation process, the transmission operations optimizer (TOO) minimizes energy used and cost of energy, while ensuring fundamental service delivery standards including pressure, flow, and storage are met. Pre-set minimum (critical) storage levels are not violated. ‘Optimal’ automatic control strategies are achieved for different seasonal, weekday/weekend demand patterns, as well as when abnormal events occur such as a pumping station or filtration plant being taken out-of-service. TOO involves water consumption/demand prediction, energy rate prediction, hydraulic modeling, mathematical optimization, analytical algorithms, data integration and on-line monitoring of system performance, and energy spot-market rate.

The Lake Huron Water System and Elgin Area Water System are regional water systems that supply water to 15-member municipalities serving approximately 500,000 people across 5,000 square kilometers (1930 square miles) of southwestern Ontario. Their advanced and innovative asset management plan and asset management program are based on a customer level of service approach and risk mitigation framework which, in part, relies on condition assessments and operational data to determine proactive, cost-effective, and timely investments in this regionally significant infrastructure. Since their construction 50 years ago, the 1200mm (48-inch) primary transmission pipeline on the Lake Huron system has suffered 4 failures and is entering a critical stage in its life-cycle. Water pipeline operators have many technologies and techniques that enable them to determine the condition of their conveyance assets, their deterioration rate, and probability of failure. By quantifying and monitoring damage on their assets, the Lake Huron water system is able to categorize the structural damage found, allowing them to prioritize their rehabilitation program, and allocate funds on a systemic basis. This approach to pipeline asset management has supported the extension of the serviceable life of critical infrastructure by identifying urgent repair needs, improving maintenance, and capital planning. The program demonstrates that by collecting quantitative data and incorporated into an effective asset management program, significant amounts of money for infrastructure renewal can be saved while minimizing service disruptions.

Despite major advances in pipeline technology, pipes still fail earlier than predicted. When implementing an asset management strategy for the replacement or rehabilitation of water pipelines, a long-term planning methodology needs to be developed and implemented effectively with allocated resources. The city of Montreal, the second most populous city in Canada with a population of 1.9 million residents, has developed an asset management plan to help protect its vital water transmission main network that totalizes 771 km (479 miles). For the city of Montreal, detailed inspections with minimal operational impact are essential. The city uses state-of-the art inspection technologies, including tethered leak detection and tethered robotics as the carrying vessel for the inspection tools. To date, approximately 145 kilometers of water transmission mains have been successfully assessed by the city with 40% of these, principally PCCP, inspected using electromagnetic condition assessment technologies while the remaining 60% were inspected for leaks. The pipelines inspected with electromagnetic tools equates to roughly 8600 individual sections of pipe with only 4% showing any damage which is in-line with the average distressed rate noted elsewhere across North America. The city completes a risk analysis using actual condition data to prioritize future inspections, repairs or renewal projects.

The Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) owns approximately 150 miles of 72 inch and 90 inch diameter pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe. This system began experiencing pipe failures at an alarming rate in the late 1980s and early 1990s which led to a root cause analysis study and the development of mitigation strategies. Along with implementation of a cathodic protection system and pressure transient control program, a key mitigation strategy was to develop a geographic information system (GIS) database. Using GIS tools, TRWD updates the risk of failure of distressed pipes based on the condition assessments and prioritizes the most critical pipes for replacements and repairs. In 2014, TRWD started utilizing the spatial risk analyst (SRA) software from New Century Software, which measures risk along the pipeline, incorporating both probability and consequence of failure to pipe segments. This paper describes TRWD’s GIS database history, the applications developed to perform structural evaluation, and the GIS-integrated SRA models designed to utilize the data for repair/replacement prioritization.

Sustainability is broadly defined to mean systems that are able to meet the needs of current and future generations by being physically resilient, cost-effective, environmentally viable, and socially equitable. While the term is applied to various types of infrastructure, the real application of sustainability practices needs to be applied to underground water infrastructure. In order to determine the best sustainable outcomes a common standard of weighing alternatives and making decisions should be followed. The International Standards Organization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental organization which facilitates world trade by providing common standards between nations. The ISO has standards which can benefit sustainable infrastructure decision making specifically in 3 main areas: life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and asset management. This paper defines a sustainable framework for underground pipe infrastructure in the context of ISO standards and industry best practices.

Infrastructure asset management programs should be focused on managing assets in a way in which the investment for each asset can be optimized producing overall cost savings in both operations and capital budgets. While there is a great amount of evidence of increasing water main breaks and further aging water infrastructure failures an approach looking at each stage of the asset’s life cycle is important in reducing costs, allocating resources effectively, and providing a financial condition where the debt ratio can have a margin necessary to issue debt to support water pipe repair and replacement projects. In order to best take into consideration all of the aspects of determining the likelihood of failure as part of the maintenance and capital repair and replacement programs, machine learning can be used as a desktop condition assessment exercise to increase accuracy in predicting the segments of pipe needing additional investment.

In an Australian first, we have applied a novel enterprise decision analytics (EDA) approach to model future sewer asset interventions, costs, and performance over a 20-year period. The project is a leading practice example of an emerging area in asset management: using big data and advanced analytics to efficiently inform investment decisions. This has delivered: efficiencies to maintain current risk and performance levels with lower cost; plans to improve performance and reduce risk by maintaining expenditure; and smart dashboard outputs so that stakeholders can promptly understand performance, risk, and cost trade-offs under a number of service level and investment scenarios.

Hot tapping and plugging procedures can be an effective and economic means to enable the efficient execution of projects to relocate, modify, or repair water and waste water infrastructure as well as oil and gas transmission lines without interrupting operations and/or services. The application can result in significant costs savings in tens of millions of dollars when large diameter pipe lines are involved. However, the general concepts, possible configurations, and sequences of the procedure appear to be known to a limited number of design, construction, and operations professionals, which may be detrimental to effective project execution or lead to the selection of another costlier option. This paper will discuss helpful information to facilitate effective use of hot taping and plugging procedures through a better understanding of the: general concepts and possible configurations to achieve isolation needed to enable project execution; tapping and plugging sequences; considerations for the design and selection of the appropriate tapping and plugging fitting corresponding to the type of pipe to be tapped; installation of tapping and plugging fittings; sequence and control for the tapping and plugging operation; and addressing the forces developed by the operation of the tapping and plugging machines.

The Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) with the City of Dallas Water Utilities (DWU), are currently engaged in the planning, design, and implementation of a 350 MGD raw water transmission system, which will run across north central Texas from Lake Palestine to Lake Benbrook, with connections to Cedar Creek Reservoir, Richland Chambers Reservoir, and a Dallas delivery point. Collectively, the system consists of approximately 145 miles of 84-inch to 108-inch pipeline, a 5-mile 120-inch diameter tunnel, six 100-350 MGD pump stations, one 450 MG balancing reservoir, and ancillary facilities. The program developed by TRWD to accomplish these improvements is called the Integrated Pipeline Project (IPL). In one of the pipeline sections, PL 14, Garney Construction needed to install 805 linear feet of 108-inch carrier pipe in a tunnel under Interstate 35E located just south of Waxahachie, Texas. For this segment, Garney proposed an innovative method of installation which included the use of air casters. Air casters are a pneumatic device that forms a lubricating film of air between a load and floor surface similar to that of a hovercraft or air hockey table. Air is squeezed between the floor and a diaphragm, creating a thin film of air allowing the load to float nearly friction-free. Air-casters have traditionally been used in the heavy manufacturing industry to move very large or heavy equipment in controlled factory environments. Air caster technology was first developed in the early 1960s by engineers working at General Motors as an alternative to bridge cranes. This paper will discuss the challenges and successes encountered during construction and show that air casters as a highly innovative method for placing large diameter carrier pipe in tunnels.

As a municipal client, we see a lot of support for standalone structural liner designs, however much less support is given to its alternative, “composite liner design.” It’s easier said than done in engineering a standalone structural liner to retrofit a sewer tunnel constructed more than a century ago. The “fully deteriorated” definition by NASSCO has been proved easily controversial, subjective, and difficult to apply to large diameter sewers, and hard on sustainability, hydraulically, and financially. We need to spend within the means of the owner as professionals that fix pipelines for a living, instead of replacing pipelines for a living as the expensive “low-hanging fruit.” In the indefinite life of huge arched sewage tunnels, its continuous life comes from the continued capability of additional deformation without compromising its compression-ring stability. A composite liner may suffice in achieving that because it works with the host tunnel’s in situ strength that remains indefinite.

Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) pipe is increasingly being used as a corrosion resistant alternative to steel for distribution pipelines. Since these may be subject to flexural stress caused by ground movement, this study examines the response of GFRP pipe to permanent ground deformation and the failure mechanisms exhibited. A 6 m GFRP pipe segment was buried in dense olivine sand in a moveable split box able to simulate a 90° normal fault line. The segment was buried 1.2 m deep and subjected to fault offset of 120 mm. Point data was gathered at locations of maximum curvature using strain gauges to corroborate continuous fiber optical strain data taken lengthwise along the crown and invert. Fiber data corroborated strain gauge data where they coincided although fibers were ineffective after exceeding 8000 micro strain. Strain data initially showed little sign of material failure in the pipe, but upon further analysis fiber data showed that as fault offset increased, the strain increase between reading intervals increased at the maximum tension point. Immediately after excavation the segment showed little sign of physical damage aside from some residual deformation. Then weeks after excavation the segment recovered its original shape and cracking had become visible around the point of peak curvature.

The city of Conroe (Conroe) is located north of Houston along the I-45 corridor. Conroe owns and operates the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant (SWWWTP). Upon renewal of the outfall permit, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued stricter discharge criteria with total dissolved solids (TDS) limits that are lower than the water treatment plant source water. This left Conroe with a few options: (1) significant and costly improvements to the SWWWTP, (2) significant changes to the city's water source, or (3) relocation of the effluent outfall. Conroe elected to construct a pipeline to relocate the effluent outfall. However, the alignment was required to pass through a forested wetland adjacent to the West Fork San Jacinto River. A team of specialized consultants acquired a Section 404 Permit from the United States Corps of Engineers (USACE) Galveston District. The project, which is now under construction, ran into several design phase permitting challenges, but its impacts were ultimately verified under three nationwide permits, and mitigation credits were purchased for the impacted wetlands.

DC Water completed a sophisticated man entry inspection of a century old trunk sewer winding through the National Mall and other robust neighborhoods in the winter of 2015. This happened after the internal design engineer rejected a 5 million dollar capital improvement program (CIP) project that included only mortar patching and crack injection work exclusively based on a flow through video inspection. Because there was no consultant lined up to address the follow-up engineering for rehabilitation and it would take eight months to screen and engage a consultant for this CIP design project, the project delivery on the preset tight schedule was in jeopardy. In light of the in-house engineer’s experience and their in-depth involvement of the latest condition assessment, the rejection of the early “patch work CIP” and the large sewer analysis and modeling, in-house engineering by DC Water design engineers was a viable option to meet the project delivery. The in-house design engineers stepped up to the challenge and was able to transfer one million dollars (the saving in the design fee) toward the rehabilitation budget of the sewer tunnel. As the engineer of record, DC Water design engineers screened through the observed defects, weighed the criticality of the documented defects, and the consequence of failure in the high profiled streets. Approximately 4,300 feet out of 22,000 feet was selected for trenchless rehabilitation using sprayed in place pipe (SIPP) with geopolymer. SIPP geopolymer presents both an advantage and disadvantage to the design engineer. Its stellar corrosion performance, the superior bonding strength, and ASTM C-78 flexural strength facilitate a composite structural liner with less or no steel reinforcement. Its challenge is the “chaotic” design formulas that differ from vendor to vendor, resulting in an inconsistent design criteria and liner thicknesses, a big issue for open bid public work. Our in-house engineering started with finite element model (FEM) analysis to compute the design moment. This resulted in a fair practice without siding with any “preferred formulas,” none sanctioned by ASTM or AWWA. Based on post processing the design moment in a composite liner approach, the liner design provided a minimum thickness for the host tunnel ranging from 12-ft span to 18-ft span. The low bid public work project then became a much more straight forward construction of the specified SIPP work. This in-house project was completed on time and within budget.

A paper showing the history of the Thirlmere, which was one of the first water supplies into Manchester to sustain the growth of the Industrial Revolution. It is still the longest gravity aqueduct in England today. Over 100 years later and Thirlmere Reservoir is being used to supply a new aqueduct system supplying the west of Cumbria with the largest pipeline project in England currently.

The Central Utah Water Conservancy District is a water wholesaler providing high-quality culinary and secondary water throughout their eight-county jurisdiction. The 7.24 km (4.5 mile) long Olmsted Flowline conveys water from the Provo River to the Alpine and Jordan Aqueducts to approximately 1.2 million customers, forming one of the largest municipal and industrial water conveyance arteries in Utah. This pipeline system includes reinforced concrete and welded steel pipe sections varying in diameter from 120- to 102-inches. A seismic risk analysis of the Olmsted Flowline conducted by the district in 2016 identified a 400-foot-long section of 102-inch-diameter, unrestrained, welded steel pipe located within a steel pipe arch tunnel under U.S. Highway 189 as a potential point of failure. To replace the system, a 3-month maximum shutdown window was provided that was timed to be simultaneous with other construction projects on the system. This paper will present the background and design approach for the replacement of this segment of pipeline. A review of the construction manager/general contractor delivery approach will be presented and the benefits that it provided for this project.

SewerVUE Technology uses CCTV, LiDAR, and pipe penetrating radar (PPR) technology to gather quantitative data for underground pipe condition assessment. This MPIS system can be deployed on either a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV), or a float. In either case, the system produces an accurate 3D reconstruction of the pipe. To measure profiles and distances above the pipe flow line, the MPIS uses a time-of-flight LiDAR that is accurate to within 1.6 mm. Below the flow line, a pipe profiling sonar is used. This MPIS technology was employed for a project in Melbourne, Australia. The project saw the survey of 3521 m of pipe. This included 572 m of 600 mm (24 inches) reinforced concrete pipe (RCP), 1297 m of 750 mm (30 inches) RCP, 1165 m of 950 mm (37.5 inches) RCP, and 487 m of 1050 mm (42 inches) brick lined pipe. Through the use of radar, LiDAR, and CCTV, SewerVUE was able to assess the condition of these pipes and quantify deformations. This application of multi-sensor technology allowed the client to make informed decisions about the timing of future repairs. The same multi-sensor technology was used in a project at the Henderson-Urad site, located near Empire, Colorado. The project aimed to inspect two sections of pipe: 1606 meters of 600 mm (24 inches) diameter RCP, and 457 m of 1350 mm (54 inches) high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE). The surveyor remote operated vehicle was used to inspect the 600 mm pipe. Due to high flows, the 1350 mm (54 inches) HDPE pipeline was inspected using the MPIS float. In the 600 mm (24 inches) pipe, the LiDAR results showed small elongation of the pipe diameter, approximately 3 to 4 percent of the nominal diameter, along the horizontal axis of the pipe. The CCTV inspection showed the pipe to be in good overall shape, the only exception being occasional roots intruding at joints, as well as some structural defects scattered along the pipe. In the 1350 mm (54 inches) plant fill pipeline, the inspection revealed no reportable defects. Both pipes appeared to be in good shape which provided peace of mind for the client. The advanced pipe condition technologies outlined here are highly useful for generating detailed, accurate data that can provide the basis for utility owners to make informed decisions about cost allocation and timing of rehabilitation. Multi-sensor technology is both cost-effective and non-destructive, making it an excellent choice to help better understand the remaining life of pipes.

Salt Lake City owns and maintains three major trunk lines that convey wastewater to their water reclamation facility. The three major trunk lines are the Orange Street trunk line, 1200 West trunk line, and the Beck Street trunk line. If any of these trunk lines should experience some loss of service for an unforeseen reason, the city could be facing serious environmental and public health consequences. Due to the criticality of this infrastructure, Salt Lake City has taken a proactive approach in maintaining their trunk lines. This proactive approach includes the condition assessment of each of the three trunk lines. Because of the criticality of these trunk lines to the sewer system, the city has also determined that each of these trunk lines must remain in service. Given the high cost of by-pass pumping, it was determined that their condition should be assessed using multi-sensor inspection (MSI) technologies.

There are over 52,000 community water systems (CWS) serving the U.S. population. Over 80% of the CWS are classified as small, serving less than 3,300 people. It’s no secret that CWS assets are in desperate need of renewal, with many systems dating back to the 19th century. Main breaks are appearing with increasing frequency, wreaking havoc on municipalities as pipelines reach the end of their service lives. Repairing and replacing crumbling infrastructure isn’t cheap—the price tag can easily run into the tens of millions of dollars for small townships, and into the billions for major cities. “What’s it worth?” is a question decision makers ask about their assets or business prior to, during, and after a transaction or restructuring. Water systems are no different, given the climate of public private partnerships and private equity transactions combined with municipal restructuring, and state and local mandates to get an appraisal, e.g., Water Infrastructure Protection Act (WIPA) in NJ. The list of parties that need to know what water systems are worth is ever growing, including tax payers, sellers, buy-side investors, and lenders including banks and bond issuers. These parties want a comfort level that a credentialed, independent third party performed appraisal that will withstand scrutiny and provide a figure that makes sense. So how are these aging water systems valued, and how does their condition come into play? There are three elements to determining value to consider: cost, market, and income approaches. All three approaches are not necessarily required; a combination of two (or even one) may be quantified and applied given the needs of a specific transaction. With a water system, the cost approach is typically applied, as these assets are uniquely constructed and configured, and current costs to replace operable assets, e.g., pipes, pumps, and hydrants, are readily available to extrapolate across the system footprint. Water mains are the most critical asset for valuation as they typically represent 75% of the total replacement cost of a CWS. Knowing the condition of the pipes not only helps drive the valuation, but is crucial for planning future capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments. To determine the remaining service life of buried water mains, the true condition (level of deterioration) is required; this can be cost-effectively quantified from non-intrusive, non-invasive acoustical testing. In most historical water system valuations, the service life of buried assets is assumed “expired,” leaving significant dollars on the table.

With the consistent increase in global population, environmental sustainability of construction has become a larger issue due to the increasing concerns about global climate change and carbon emissions. In the pipeline industry, carbon footprint analyses have been performed regularly to identify fewer carbon intensive materials and methods used during construction. The pipeline industry, however, has yet to evaluate the environmental sustainability of pipe materials during the fabrication stages. The objective of this paper is to calculate and analyze the environmental sustainability, as determined by carbon footprint and embodied energy, of 100 feet of pipe during the fabrication stages (material extraction, material production, and pipe manufacturing) made from three different types of pipe: pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and cured-in-place pipe (CIPP). This paper focuses on a large-diameter, 36 inches’ sewer pressure pipe operating at 100 psi internal pressure. Initial results show the environmental sustainability of PCCP to be lower than PVC and CIPP. The second phase of this project will focus on the environmental impact for each during construction, operation, and end of life to determine the overall life-cycle environmental sustainability of each material.

As municipalities across the United States and Canada focus on delivering the essentials of clean water, efficient wastewater treatment, and judicious control of storm water, government officials, engineers, and the companies that install, operate, and maintain piping infrastructure need to understand that a life cycle systems approach. Sustainability concerns apply to many critical resources such as water. On a per capita basis, the U.S. leads the world in water usage, with a substantial portion of water consumed/leaked by infrastructure systems. Because of water availability, competing water demands, and changing hydrologic conditions, the U.S. Department of Interior predicts that multiple water conflicts will occur in the western U.S. by 2025. In addition, decades of excessive demands on ecological systems have reduced their capacities to absorb and process emissions and wastes. Sustainable water infrastructure is vital to providing the American public with clean and safe water and helping to ensure the environmental, economic, and social health of the nation’s communities. The increasing interest in sustainability has led to the development of sustainability assessment tools such as life cycle assessments (LCA) analyzing the embodied energy and environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool used to identify the environmental impacts of a product, process, or activity over the entire lifespan of the product. LCA studies also quantify and interpret the environmental flows to and from the environment (including emissions to air, water, and land, as well as the consumption of energy and other material resources) over the entire life cycle of a product (or process or service). By including the impacts throughout the product life cycle, LCA provides a comprehensive view of the environmental aspects of the product and an accurate picture of the true environmental tradeoffs in product selection.

DeKalb County, Georgia, Department of Watershed Management (DWM) initiated a project to replace approximately 40,000 feet of 70-year old water distribution main along a heavily trafficked two-lane road due to repeated failures. The existing 6-inch asbestos cement (AC) pipe was experiencing numerous failures and the road had not been paved for a number of years. Complaints from local residents and businesses increased significantly due to the deteriorating condition of the road, in part exacerbated by the main breaks, and also for the frequent water shut downs. In response, DWM decided to expedite procurement by using the single-step design-build method to install the new water main and repave the entire road, curb to curb with no detailed bridging design documents provided. In addition, this water main serves approximately 2,800 potable water customers and the road serves on average 24,600 vehicles every day. Such a large impact required an extensive public outreach program including community meetings, press releases, social media notifications, and door to door interactions to notify customers. This paper discusses DWM’s and the project team’s experience with the single-step design-build approach with limited bridging documents along with recommendations and lessons learned, which should offer a pathway for utilities and engineers to use single-step design-build to expedite the procurement and installation of significant lengths of small diameter water mains.

Municipalities, water bottling companies, and other heavy water consumers are extracting large amounts of water from fresh water sources such as the Great Lakes, intensifying the already large effects imposed by extended periods of low rainfall and high temperatures. Applications for permissions to extract more water from the Great Lakes and also, the advantages and disadvantages of using different methods of water transportation have fueled a series of disputes. Great Lakes’ surrounding states and provinces try to protect the Great Lakes. But heavy water consumers seek further access to the rich water source. After identifying the important players, their preferences and options have been analyzed using the graph model of conflict resolution (GMCR) approach. It is suggested that the equilibrium state is a situation in which no water extraction permissions from the Great Lakes would be issued to additional parties. On the other hand though, a lot of water seekers would be trying to get approvals to access the Great Lakes. They would also however, seek other alternatives regarding their water requirements. This research should enhance understanding of the conflicts over water extraction and transportation from Great Lakes, and hence, help decision makers predict/prevent other potential water disputes.

In early 2016, Freese and Nichols Inc. (FNI) was contracted by the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) to develop a pipeline alignment for an 84-inch treated water pipeline to support the future growth projections expected in the northern reaches of their treated water system. The NTMWD currently serves more than 1.6 million people. The project is named the Leonard to McKinney Treated Water Pipeline, and this paper will present the preliminary design aspects of corridor and alignment selection analysis. The Leonard to McKinney Treated Water Pipeline (TWPL) is approximately 25 miles in length and proposed as an 84-inch pipeline with the potential for a future parallel 60-inch pipeline. The line begins at the proposed Leonard Water Treatment Plant (LWTP) near the city of Leonard, Texas, and travels southwesterly to the proposed McKinney Pump Station No. 4 delivery point in McKinney, Texas. The pipeline is expected to convey 90 MGD initially with an ultimate system capacity of 360 MGD. This pipeline is critical to meet the rapid growth the northern Dallas metroplex is experiencing. The paper will present an overview of the route analysis that was provided, beginning with a corridor analysis where a total of six, quarter-mile wide corridors were developed before narrowing those down to one preferred corridor, and finally working toward one final preferred pipeline alignment. The goal of the paper and presentation will be to focus on the reasoning and methods utilized for the careful selection of the optimal pipeline route. Special consideration was provided for various aspects to minimize known potential environmental and archeological impacts, potential impact to landowners, constructability concerns, topographic characteristics that would negatively impact hydraulic profile, and maximizing proposed permanent easement limits for future maintenance/construction needs. The preliminary routes were broken up by length into geographical classifications that represent specific construction challenges and associated costs. An evaluation matrix was developed utilizing geographical, cost, environmental, maintenance, and installation characteristics to classify sections of the routes as a means of comparing the alternatives. Using these reasoning tools, the analysis able to provide the NTMWD with an optimal pipeline route to carry into final design.

This presentation will provide the audience with a better understanding of the seismic benefits of high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) through Water Research Foundation report #4408. This report written by John Edinger and Craig Davis of the Water Research Foundation in 2012. The report addresses earthquakes and the implications for U.S. water utilities. Three major seismic events are investigated in this report: Christchurch, NZ, Concepcion, Chile, and Sendai, Japan. No known breaks of HDPE pipe were found as a result of these earthquakes. The outstanding seismic performance of HDPE demonstrates its behavior below-ground. Therefore, it’s important for design engineers to understand its burial properties and attributes. AWWA’s M-55 Design Window (updated for 2018) and ASTM D2774 are essential for burial design of HDPE which will be covered in this talk. These tools provide information on minimum depth of cover and maximum depth of cover along with installation guidelines. The M-55 tool conversation will provide pertinent information for engineers designing HDPE projects. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of burial design of HDPE with dynamic loading after a review of Water Research Foundation’s (WRF) report, (ASTM) D2774, and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) M-55 Design Window. HDPE offers a leak-free monolithic pipeline system for U.S. and Canadian utilities.

In order for the city of Flint, Michigan, to receive high-quality water, the Genesee County Drain Commission (GCDC) leased a nine mile 72-inch pipeline to Flint, for the price of $1 per month. This was done in recognition of Flint’s water emergency, to immediately bring clean water to its residents. The situation created an urgent demand for a new 42-inch water line, since GCDC was no longer able to utilize the existing 72-inch pipe to carry finished water from GCDC’s new treatment plant to their distribution system. The plant had a planned operation date of October 2017, and the need to build the 42-inch line was not known until February 2017. GCDC designed, permitted, and constructed the nine miles of pipeline in just seven months. The 42-inch pipeline was comprised of 39,000 feet of spiral-welded steel pipe shipped to Burton, Michigan. From design to installation, the project timeline was seven months. This aggressive schedule led to some out-of-the box thinking to allow alignment design, pipe fabrication design, and procurement of pipe materials to take place on parallel schedules. This paper outlines the time constraints established for the project, the solutions developed and implemented to complete the design, manufacturing, delivery, and installation in seven months. Emphasis is made on the material aspect of the project and how the pipe bill of material was designed and managed to allow for fabrication to be concurrent with the design of the alignment. Additionally, the bill of material needed to provide flexibility in the field. The installer was required to have flexibility in laying sequence, quantity of installation crews, and starting locations. The project was successful in meeting all the time constraints. Coordination and communication early in the design and manufacturing process were key elements. The pipe bill of material accommodated all the contingencies that were anticipated such as: change in laying direction, additional shipping points, and change in installation start points.

For several years, much of the country struggled with stubborn drought. Then, floods came to Texas, and California had a generationally-high snowpack. The problems and wide variations between water demand and water supply are well known. Not as well known outside our industry is that per capita water consumption is down 38% since 1980. Conservation is working, but it's time we took a serious and open-minded look at augmenting water resource resilience by construction of an integrated system of trans-basin pipelines. Fortunately, our nation is blessed with an abundance of water. While we speak of water shortages in times of drought, when considered globally and even to some degree with respect to our continent, we actually have all the water we have ever had, and we also have all the water we will ever have. Our water supply problem is that our water and our people are often separated. Our water supply problem is further magnified when our water and our agriculture are also separated. Fortunately, recent awareness of the water-energy-food nexus has brought this issue more to the public arena. We have the means to address this by moving our water from where we have it abundantly to where we need it badly. Australia has done this, and some areas of North America have begun to. Other areas can benefit from what has been learned in these places. Eight of the American Public Works Association's top ten projects of the 20th century involved water. Let's have another innovative public works project, strengthen the resilience of our water resources, put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work in dozens of fields, strengthen our economy, and ensure our future economic vitality with respect to water resource resilience. This topic and author received an ASCE Innovative Thinking award in 2016. Our water, engineering, and public service professionals are challenged like never before. This paper presents an opportunity for leadership.

Cost has often become a more important component in the award of engineering design contracts. With this trend, there has also been a trend to try to shift some of design and liability from the design engineer to the contractor and subcontractors. This often includes the manufacturers of pipe, valves, and other manufactured products, since very few contractors have this expertise in house. This paper will present some view points on what value and cost of different items that are shifted down the process are perceived to accomplish and what many times are truly accomplished. This paper will also touch on some of the possible short comings of this practice, such as communication problems, quality, and misunderstanding of the desired final design intent. This paper will also discuss the practice of having manufacturers stamp design calculations. Some items may have beneficial value but sometimes this could cause confusion, delays, and a design not meeting the original goals. The use of electronic aids like spread sheets and standard design drawings and specifications can also create the possibility of misapplying a generic design to a specific design requirement. This becomes even more important in the design of large diameter pipelines where structural loads become an issue. The conclusion of the paper will discuss how these practices may be trending toward less training of young engineers and what our legacy is to future engineers.

Following a catastrophic failure of a major water line, the city of Houston established a yearly on-call contract to prevent delays of similar emergency repairs caused by the lengthy contractual process needed to hire a contractor and procure materials. Events like these demonstrate the importance of having a pre-existing contract in place and materials in storage ready for response. This paper discusses the process a typical on-call work order goes through, from project prioritization, to the engineer’s planning, design, and cost estimating, and to the on-call contractor’s work. The paper will also evaluate how the contract has evolved over the past several contracts.

Denver Water has embarked on a decade-long process of renewing their North System Facilities. These facilities include reservoirs, raw water transmission mains, and the Moffat Water Treatment Plant. A key element of this system is an 8.5 mile long, 84-inch diameter transmission main that will convey treated water from the new Northwater Treatment Plant to the existing Moffat Water Treatment Plant being re-purposed as a terminal reservoir and distribution facility. Originally planned as a raw water pipeline delivering water to an expanded Moffat Water Treatment Plant, this transmission main became a treated water line when the decision was made to build the new Northwater WTP. Design progressed on the treated waterline until the complexity, timeline, and cash flow of the revised system dictated a pause in the design at approximately 60 percent design level to allow the owner to plan the overall system project delivery. The design shutdown spanned approximately 14 months, after which the treated waterline project was restarted, and the first of 4 design packages has been delivered and is under construction. The consultant and owner performed the shutdown of the project as a coordinated, structured activity. Several measures to facilitate a smooth restart were undertaken at the time of shutdown including: a shutdown memorandum documenting work in progress, record of decisions, outstanding action items, jurisdictional contacts, etc.; formally archiving files; jurisdictional notifications; and public notifications. However, shutdown and startup of a large design project has provided insight into best practices, opportunities, pitfalls, and lessons learned. Several challenges needed to be overcome in the initial 12 months of the restart including: re-assembling both the owner and consultant team; whether or not to re-validate previous decisions; whether to progress design based on pre-shutdown submittals; developing a realistic budget and scope for project completion; and re-establishing previous jurisdictional and public connections. The project team has identified several significant lessons learned that would prove valuable to others facing similar circumstances.

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) constructed a 28-mile, 60 inch water transmission pipeline and 2 pump stations to convey water to key storage and distribution sites in the city of San Antonio. Construction commenced in 2015–2017. This $100,000,000 project was recently completed and is in operation. This presentation will focus on change management during construction of this pipeline from the perspective of the owner (SAWS) and the third-party construction manager (3PCM). This presentation will not focus on the typical change management of the construction (CMC) issues like change of conditions, weather delays, etc., rather, it will present lesson learned associated with change management of key staff (CMKS) during construction of this project. The lessons learned for CMKS during this project are closely aligned with best practices and principles of traditional construction change management. The good news is: as an owner or construction manager, you likely already know how to manage change in construction and therefore, by applying the same principles you are already equipped to manage change of key staff and leadership during a project too. This presentation will explain how to do so.

Data interchange for geotechnical and geoenvironmental specialists (DIGGS) is a data transfer standard for the geotechnical and geoenvironmental communities. Originally developed for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to efficiently capture data related to geotechnical boring logs, cone penetration test (CPT) soundings, and lab testing results, the data transfer protocol is gaining traction and is now beneficially impacting other areas where disparate parties (i.e., consultants, contractors, vendors, etc.) routinely publish/submit data to owners as part of project deliverables. The authors believe that these data and the transfer protocol are also relevant for the pipeline community, as this community has a need for information (and information exchange) regarding condition assessments, environmental compliance, geohazards, and other information that may impact pipeline operations. By adopting DIGGS, users need not modify how they currently capture data, but rather will use DIGGS as a vehicle to transfer their collected data to other applications where it can be shared, stored, visualized, and managed. This paper will describe DIGGS and then demonstrate how DIGGS can be used to capture the diverse information/data) that are valuable to the pipeline community.

Utility strikes are a major risk when performing underground excavation activities. According to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA), utility hits have resulted in over $1.7 billion in property damage, close to 2,000 injuries, and over 400 deaths over the past 20 years. Even with the diligent efforts of the State One Call systems, the reality is that many undocumented underground utilities are present throughout the nation. As we continue to adopt trenchless construction methods such as horizontal directional drilling (HDD) in urban environments, there needs to be technological advancements to reduce the risk of utility strikes. One of the major trending technologies in the 21st century, augmented reality (AR), integrates 3D models and the real world, intersecting virtual reality with reality. In the vertical construction industry, AR has already proven its value. During an HDD operation, there is a risk of striking an existing underground utility. However, by integrating AR during an HDD project, the operator’s awareness of underground utilities is significantly increased. Greater awareness of existing utilities can significantly reduce potential damage and costly litigation. This paper demonstrates the innovation of augmented reality for trenchless technology projects. A pilot project was conducted in Phoenix, Arizona, to demonstrate the application of AR with HDD and show the inherent risk reduction benefits.

Pipelines experience seismic forces when subjected to earthquake induced acceleration. However, unlike seismic design of above ground structures including building, bridges, and tanks, the science of earthquake engineering related to buried water and waste water pipelines is complex and code accepted design procedures are not readily available to the engineering community and pipeline design practitioners. For example, American Water Works Association, Steel Water Pipe: A Guide for Design and Installation (M11), Fifth Edition., Appendix D-Design of Steel Water Pipelines in Geohazard Areas, and American Society of Civil Engineers, Steel Penstocks, Manual of Practice 79, Second Edition, provide placeholders for future additional information with only several pages of general design and references to other publications. Recognizing that the previous editions of M11 contained no information at all on seismic design of pipelines, the introduction of the subject in the 5^th edition is welcome however, little tangible design information is presented and much work is needed in future editions of M11 to adequately cover the subject of seismic design of pipelines. One of the technical challenges to overcome is obtaining a good understanding of how buried pipelines interact with the surrounding soil (soil/structure interaction) and behave in a seismic event. For example in an earthquake, some soils may actually liquefy, causing local loss of soil strength, resulting in severe demands on buried pipelines. It is generally recognized that welded steel pipelines that are restrained by field-welded joints, flanged joints, or grooved joints perform well in seismic conditions. Estimation of seismic forces and concepts for resistance to seismic forces in addition to design strategies are needed to make pipelines function reliably as a safe, integral part of a conveyance system, as intended by the designer. One strategy to reduce seismic forces is to introduce flexibility into the pipeline structure. Structural engineers performing building design recognize that a flexible structure will adsorb much less energy during a seismic event than a rigid structure. Energy reduction translates into reduced forces on the pipeline, joints, and structural interfaces. It is common to have a pipeline enter/exit an underground structure however the interface acts as a boundary for seismic waves that are exaggerated at this location. This paper will address the concept of flexibility to resist seismically induced pipeline forces by application of multiple self-restrained flexible couplings. Structural pipeline design considerations for future editions of AWWA Manual M11 will be addressed.

This paper includes a discussion of the importance of accurate record drawings for pipeline projects, why record drawings are often inaccurate, and suggestions for improving the quality of record drawings on future projects. It also includes a discussion of maintaining and saving complete project records including product submittals, shop drawings, lay diagrams, payment quantities, drawings, specifications, requests for information (RFIs), and photographs.

Fort Worth, one of the fastest growing cities in Texas, has recently taken aggressive steps to expand its water system to support the development. The city’s north side is its fastest growing region. But due to the extreme growth, residents in the north side have seen multiple issues with their water supply, including excessive fluctuations in pressure and water quality issues. One part of the solution includes the development of a new pressure plane. New developments have prompted the city of Fort Worth to design, build, and put into service a new pressure plane and small-scale distribution system. The new pressure plane, Northside IV, needs to be in service within 18 months to serve proposed development. This paper describes the strategies used to plan and design a new pressure plane, including approximately 10,000 linear feet (3 km) of 24-inch (610 mm) diameter water transmission main, a pressure plane flow transfer station, and a hydropneumatic tank in four months while meeting regulatory requirements.

Underground excavations have the potential for considerable ground movement and subsequently, utilities of varying ages and materials could be impacted. Replacing or relocating all the utilities is cost prohibitive; therefore, there is an interest in assessing potential damage to the utilities. Simplified damage assessment methods have been developed for buildings in the last several decades. In contrast, there is no simplified method for assessment of damage to utilities, which may be attributed to the diversity of the utility materials and structures. An infrastructure project in Ontario, Canada, entails mining a few large diameter caverns using sequential excavation method (SEM/NATM). A new practical method for assessment of the damage to utilities was developed for this project. The method described herein is simple enough to be used for both Level-1 and Level-2 assessments of potential damage to utilities, yet robust enough to address diverse utility structures and complex deformation profiles. These utility structures include sewers and watermains up to 1200-mm diameter and gas mains. Utility materials include brick, vitrified clay, concrete, cast iron, steel, and plastics (PVC and polyethylene). The pipeline behavior is investigated in this paper by analysis of the spatially distributed ground deformations caused by excavations.

The strategic partnership between the Enwave Corporation and the city of Toronto to create the world's largest lake-source district cooling system has enabled Toronto's downtown core to receive affordable and sustainable energy for over 15 years. The success of the system is attributable to the efforts put forth by both the project teams during design and construction, and operating teams that work to both optimize and maintain the system. The project has yielded 42,000 tonnes of renewable cooling energy, over 300 mega litres/day (MLD) of year-round quality drinking water from the once seasonal Toronto Island Water Treatment Plant, and has also resulted in a greenhouse gas reduction equivalent to 15,000 cars taken off the road annually.

Over the past two decades Palo Verde has developed a wealth of knowledge about managing a large critical pipeline system, and the proper approach to asset management weighing budget and risk factors to insure reliability of water delivery. This paper will share the valuable lessons learned and best practices adopted by Palo Verde throughout the years.