REBUILDING OF PARADISE COUNTS ON HDPE PIPE California Town Conquering Massive Conflagration
The rebuilding of the town here that was destroyed by the Camp Fire continues with a focus on the rapid replacement of water service lines. “When we’re done, there will be about 315,000 feet of new HDPE service lines,” stated Kevin Phillips, Town Manager for the Town of Paradise. Prior to the 2018 fire, the town had a population of 26,000. During 17 days starting on November 8, 2018, the fire destroyed some 150,000 acres and nearly 19,000 homes and buildings. The Paradise Irrigation Department is replacing all water service lines using high-density polyethylene (HDPE) PE 4710 pipe in diameters of one to two inches. The pipe, PolyFlex™ CTS potable water service tubing from Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (ADS) (NYSE: WMS), is resistant to rot and corrosion, can be easily installed and is consistent with industry specifications for potable water. “This SDR 9 PolyFlex tubing from ADS is produced in accordance with AWWA Standard C901, and meets NSF 14 and 61 standards,” explained Camille George Rubeiz, P.E., F. ASCE, co-chair, HDPE Mu- nicipal Advisory Board and senior director of engineering, Municipal and Industrial Division of the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI). “This means that the pipe is certified for potable water systems because it meets or exceeds the requirements for health effects in drinking water components, and also the performance criteria of plastic piping com- ponents as stipulated by NSF. PE 4710 compounds offer an excellent level of performance for trenchless and open cut installations. The PE 4710 HDPE pipe can be used with increased flow capacities plus increased resistance to surge events and fatigue. The ANSI/AWWA C906-15 standard includes PE 4710 for sizes up to 65 inches and rec - ognizes the increased durability and reliability of HDPE pressure pipe used in water systems." After the fire, accusations were made that sections of burnt plastic pipe found above ground created benzene, which found its way into the Paradise water system. The Plastics Pipe Institute, the major North American trade association, investigated. “These claims are patently false,” stated David Fink, PPI president. “There has been no evidence that plastic pipes are responsible for the production of benzene or any other contaminant due to the heating of the pipes during the Camp Fire. It’s clear that the contamination was from the millions of tons of the fire-ravaged environment that got sucked into the water system.”
Displaced and new residents are part of the rebuilding of Paradise.
According to Phillips, “What the district saw was that the contamina- tion from the fire was not associated with any particular pipe material and that even the galvanized and copper pipes that were in the ground saw the same amount of contamination as the polyethylene. There was a similar percentage of contaminated service laterals with those other materials as there was with polyethylene. So, we decided to continue to use polyethylene because of the ease of use and the cost being the best on the market. We felt it would be the best choice for the rebuild- ing of Paradise. “This town was built during many, many decades. When they first started building it, the pipes in the ground were actually lead. During the boom in the 1950s, most of the pipes that went into the ground were galvanized steel. There were issues with corrosion so the district moved to copper pipe which, at that time, was the industry standard. Again, there were flexibility and corrosion issues especially with the acidic soil conditions. And so, the district finally moved to polyeth - ylene because of the durability and made that our standard. We felt it would be in the ground for many, many years. Even after the fires, we
Kevin Phillips, Town Manager, Town of Paradise, “It is clear that the contamination was from the burned-out environment that got sucked into pipes. Pipes of all materials were found to be contaminated.”
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csengineermag.com
January 2021
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