Panoramic view of a water main replacement project in a... #2018

K. Moita

Papers # 2018 Las-Vegas

East Bay Municipal Utility District (District) provides water and wastewater services to the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The District’s potable water system serves approximately 1.4 million customers in a 332-square-mile area that spans portions of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The potable water system includes approximately 4,200 miles of distribution pipelines. Currently, the District is working toward ramping up its annual distribution pipeline replacement rate from 10 miles to 40 miles per year. In order to improve pipeline project efficiencies and deliver more cost effective projects to allow for more pipe replacements, the District recently began developing larger projects by selecting clusters of pipelines that are in poor condition instead of picking shorter segments of pipes to replace. The pipeline clusters are selected based on risk scores, which are determined by analyzing likelihood and consequence of pipe failure. One such cluster project is the Panoramic Hill Pipeline Replacement Project. The District recently completed construction of this multiphase high-density polyethylene (HDPE) water main replacement project. These pipeline replacements are part of a larger water system upgrade in the Panoramic Hill geohazardous neighborhood.

Panoramic Hill is a historic residential neighborhood with approximately 125 residences within the Cities of Berkeley and Oakland, located above the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) California Memorial Stadium. The Hayward Fault Zone traverses the lower portion of the hill, as shown in Fig. 1, and the hill is prone to landslides. The neighborhood is bordered by both UCB and East Bay Regional Park District land on its northern and eastern sides, UCB facilities on the northwestern and southern sides, and City of Berkeley residential streets on the western side. The single point of entry for this neighborhood is Panoramic Way, a narrow and winding road with multiple switchback turns where traffic is limited to one direction at a time. Due to its proximity to open vegetated space and limited access for fire departments, Panoramic Hill has an “extreme high” fire risk category designation. Given the community’s high seismic and fire risks, it is critical for this area to have reliable water service.

Related keywords : HDPE, water main replacement, bend radius, service saddles, plastic water supply infrastructure.

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Panoramic view of a water main replacement project in a fire-seismic geohazard zone

K. Moita

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