Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2021 Amsterdam
Greg Scoby, PE
This paper will detail the steps taken during adoption of HDPE for potable water systems improvements including material justification, creation of related specifications, investigation of available piping components, qualification of contractors and the construction/inspection of related systems.
The City of Palo Alto, California, USA adopted HDPE as the primary material for water distribution in 2010. This adoption was implemented in an accelerated water main replacement program initiated in 1994. The accelerated infrastructure program lowered the level of replacement from 233 years to 77.6 years which is well within the anticipated useful life of HDPE materials (100 years minimum). This paper provides a historical account of the City’s Utilities Department along with statistics of the systems composition. Several construction projects involving the exclusive use of HDPE are included.
Approximately 10 years ago, the City of Palo Alto made the decision to convert to HDPE for potable water distribution. This decision was based on the experience gained with the exclusive use of polyethylene for natural gas distribution made in the late 1980s. Several factors were considered to support this conversion. The major driving force was the leak free performance of a monolithic self-restraining system provided by fused connections. Other factors guiding this decision included the projected life of the material, minimizing corrosion failure associated with buried metallic components, ability to install piping with trenchless construction methods to minimize installed cost and customer inconvenience and the need to construct a resilient distribution system capable of remaining in service during and after seismic events. The San Andreas Fault traverses Palo Alto. In the early 1990s, utility department staff convinced Council members of the need to increase replacement levels associated with the water, gas and wastewater systems. An accelerated infrastructure replacement program was funded and additional engineering staff hired to focus on the design and construction of all three mentioned systems. In 2009, staff started the revisions of the existing standards Copyright © 2021 by (Greg Scoby, PE, Crossbore Consultants, Gregs@CrossboreConsultants.com)and construction documents for the water system and joined the Plastics Pipe Institute Municipal Advisory Board and the American Water Works 263 Polyolefin Committee (responsible for polyethylene standards) to ensure the newly created HDPE specifications represented the best practices.
Staff utilized past experience gained during natural gas projects to implement the use of trenchless construction methods for potable water system replacement. The first HDPE project, Water Main Replacement 21/22, was constructed over the 2010/2011 fiscal year with main sizes ranging from 8 inch (200 mm) through 16 inch (400 mm) encompassing a total 31,680 linear feet (9.7 km) of mains. Construction was performed by a polyethylene qualified contractor utilizing both trenchless and open cut construction methods. Based on the success of this project, full adoption of HDPE for water, including mains and services, was made for all system extensions and improvements/replacements. HDPE is currently the primary material specified by the City for potable water distribution.
Related papers
Author(s) : Ajay Taraiya, Peter Degenhart, Mark Boerakker
In PPXX, a technology was presented for the first time that could bi-axially orient polyolefin pipes. With this technology, it is possible to prepare pipes that have a performance far beyond the standard ones. One approach to achieving this performance is via a continuous in-line process. To optimize the in-line...
Author(s) : Olivera Bilic, Vivek Rohatgi, Brody Peterson, David Hukill
Demand for conduit pipe is expected to surge globally due to rapid industrialization and urbanization in residential and commercial sectors. Just in the U.S., according to Market Research analysis, expected growth of the plastic conduit pipe market is at a CAGR of more than 5% over the next ten years. In response to...
Author(s) : Dolores Herran
MOLECOR continuing with its line of leading water infrastructure sector with its technological products, has recently developed a software that can be used through a mobile application or web browser with which users can digitalize and geolocate the different pieces that form a water infrastructure network. This is a...
Author(s) : Michael O’Rourke
The required wall thickness for a fully fused HDPE water main subject to an earthquake induced lateral spread is addressed in this paper. The water main is assumed to be buried via cut and cover (i.e., open cut with typical burial depths in the 2 to 15 feet range) procedures and any laterals have small diameters. For...
Author(s) : Sunwoong Choi, Robert Stakenborghs , Pyeongan Lee, Byoungho Choi
This work developed a hydro-axial tension (HAT) test as a whole pipe axial tensile test and applied to evaluate the polyethylene (PE) pipe and fusion joints containing various flaws. HAT test was designed to utilize hydrostatic pressure to cause axial tension in pipes. The experimental and numerical analysis was...
Author(s) : Michael Pluimer, Christian Herrild, Patrick Vibien
With enhanced interest in a circular economy and the potential use of recycled HDPE within HDPE conduit, a research project was undertaken to investigate the necessary technical requirements when using recycled HDPE. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) conduit is a durable product designed to protect cables...
Author(s) : Carine Lacroix, Philippe Louvel, Danielle Mark, Dominique Gueugnaut
A test program was carried out on two Polyamide resins, Polyamide 11 (PA11) and Polyamide 12 (PA12), both certified for gas networks. Polyamide’s advantage lies in its implementation, similar to that of polyethylene, and its properties allowing it to operate at up to 18 bar for gas, all other conditions being equal....
Author(s) : Shane Schuessler, Richard Coombs, Mohamed Hageb, Abdullah Saber, Grigorios Vigellis, Chandra Basavaraju
Bordered by Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo sits Lake Kivu, an African Great Lake formed along the East African Rift. Lake Kivu is one of the world’s deepest freshwater lakes and contains enormous quantities of dissolved carbon dioxide and methane gas held at depths greater than 1100 feet (350 meters)....
Author(s) : Dr. Tania Weyland, Dr. Tobias Eltze, Dr. Rolf Wittlinger, Marie-Laure Bertet, Gregor Huber
A significant amount of water is lost in transit from the water treatment plant to the consumer. A major cause of water leakages is the deterioration of assets including the use of disinfectants. Using chlorine-based disinfectants is known to be extremely effective in eliminating waterborne pathogens, but they also...
Author(s) : Nayib Joussef, Chris Zenthoefer, Sergio Vaccaro
Butt fusion of HDPE pipe has long been shown to be an extremely beneficial process in producing leak-free, monolithic piping systems. Continued growth of the Chilean mining sector has necessitated a substantial increase in polyethylene pipe sizes and wall thicknesses, with diameters well beyond 630 mm up to 2m...
Author(s) : Peter Sejersen, Ludo Debever
Microplastics in drinking water and in food in general has been a topic with ever increasing interest since a publication of a study in the British newspaper The Guardian. The microplastics topic has also high focus on governmental level, e.g. in Germany where a report of Fraunhofer Umsicht /1/ estimates the amount...
Author(s) : Chris Greggs
Much has been done to improve the quality and efficiency of HDPE pipe installations over the years. Now, a totally new concept for fusion where the machine meets the pipe where it lays to improve worksite safety, boost jobsite efficiency, and minimize the amount of time spent between fusions has been developed. This...
Author(s) : Peter Youssef, Sultan Alkendi, Hussein Basha
Bahr El-Baqar Water Treatment Plant, produces 2 billion m3 per year, introduces a sustainable solution for environmental pollution recovery and irrigation water source (via recycling the water of Bahr El- Baqar drain); whereas it protects the environment and generates water to support the cultivation of 4000 km2 in...
Author(s) : Harry Mavridis
Demand for thick-wall (i.e., greater than about 2”-3” in thickness[15] ) HDPE pressure pipe is increasing worldwide for water, mining and oil & gas gathering applications. Resin producers have been developing HDPE resins that combine performance requirements (PE4710 or PE100) with processability attributes needed for...
Author(s) : Peter Sejersen, Ilari Aho
European standardization of plastic pipe systems has been on the agenda since the eighties and almost all applications are now described in common European standards. An important expectance however is the hygienic requirements of pipes for drinking water: Most of the EU Member States currently do not coordinate...
Author(s) : Drew Mueller, Peter Dyke
HDPE Pipe holds a dominant position in several markets in North America: natural gas distribution, oil patch, mining, landfill and geothermal. So why are polyethylene’s municipal water and wastewater market shares so much lower than these other industries? How has the polyethylene industry been successful in growing...
Author(s) : Donald Swen, Leanne Pichay, Nicholas Vallin, Alice Wu, Jim Johnston
In the rural commune of Ait Bayoud, Morocco, two of the most remote villages in the area, Ilguiloda and Izgouaren, live with water scarcity. To meet their water needs, women and children walk several kilometers to the nearest spring each day, often multiple times a day. Consequently, children cannot attend school...
Author(s) : Ilija Radeljic, Ebbe Smith
HDPE pipe can be relatively easily scratched during the manipulation on the site, which is especially true for the marine pipelines. Installing the scratched marine pipe with the S bend method presents a risk and repair methods are usually performed. Currently, there is no standard defining the repair procedure, in...
Author(s) : Andreas Moerman, Flip van der Valk, Mirjam Blokker KWR, Tjakko Haaijer, Jan Vreeburg,
Drinking water companies with ageing networks are facing vast amounts of drinking water network reconstructions during the coming decades. This development coincides with the energy transition, which puts pressure on the available space underground. These external drivers give drinking water companies an opportunity...
Author(s) : Bruce Mowry, PhD, P.E., Brian Dorwart, P.G., P.E., David Mancini, Bryan Fletcher, Roger Williams, P.E., Rene Brito, EIT, Arnelio Alfonso, P.E .
The City of Miami Beach owns and operates a 54-inch sanitary sewage PCCP force main (FM) that was built in 1977. This FM is the only transmission pipeline for conveying about 22 million gallons per day (MGD) of raw sewage to the wastewater treatment plant. In 2012, the City identified structural deficiencies in the...
Members of the Association
