CWA approves current inspection contract for Pipeline 4-5 portions

The San Diego County Water Authority board approved a professional services contract for remote field eddy current inspection, including inspection on two pipeline portions which run through Fallbrook.

The SDCWA board’s December 6 vote awarded a contract of up to $630,000 to Pressure Pipe Inspection Company to provide remote field eddy inspection for approximately 40.6 miles of pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe.

The work will be performed during the Fiscal Year 2008 and 2009 pipeline shutdowns and will be part of the CWA’s Aqueduct Protection Program.

Following several pipeline failures in the early 1990s, the CWA initiated the Aqueduct Protection Program in 1992 to assess the condition of pipelines constructed prior to 1984.

The completion of initial assessments determined the estimated remaining service life of pipeline portions along with internal inspection frequencies which are used to adjust the replacement and relining schedules.

Over the past eight years, the CWA’s entire 82.5 miles of pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe were assessed using the remote field eddy current technology.

Some of those sections were inspected a second time to compare previous data and develop decay curves. A previous contract was awarded to Pressure Pipe Inspection Company in 2005 for inspection services during Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007.

The new contract cycle saw two companies bid on the work, and a selection panel recommended that Pressure Pipe Inspection Company be awarded the new contract.

During Fiscal Year 2007-08 inspection will be performed on 7.5 miles of crossover pipeline north of Escondido between the first and second aqueducts.

During Fiscal Year 2008-09, the inspection will include 11 miles of Pipeline 4 from the CWA’s delivery point in Fallbrook to the Twin Oaks Diversion Structure and 11 miles of Pipeline 5 from the delivery point to the diversion structure.

The Fiscal Year 2008-09 work will also include inspection of 11 miles of Pipeline 3 between the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant by Lake Murray and the Lower Otay Reservoir.