Underground Construction - September 2020 - 8

NEWSLINE LATEST INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
purchasing filters and bottled water, children's
health care and other assistance.
Elevated levels of lead were detected in the
blood of some children after Flint switched
its water source from the city of Detroit to the
Flint River in April 2014. That change was made
to cut costs while Flint was under control of a
state-appointed emergency manager during the
administration of former Gov. Rick Snyder.
State environmental regulators advised that
Flint, located about 70 miles (113 kilometers)
north of Detroit, not to apply corrosion controls
to the water, leading to contamination by lead
that leached from aging pipes.

Work Completed on World's Longest Hydraulically Inserted Pipe
National Grid and its project partners Skanska and PORR Group have set a new record with the
insertion of a 3-mile (5-km) natural gas pipeline into a tunnel under the River Humber.
Two hydraulic thrust machines were used to push eight 2,034-foot-long (620-meter) sections of
pipe on rollers into the new tunnel. The pipes were methodically pushed at around 3 feet (1 meter)
per minute into the tunnel, which had been flooded with 50,000 cubic meters of pure and treated
water to aid the installation.
After one pipe section had been installed, the next was moved into position and welded to the
one in front. The push continued until the full length of pipe was fully installed, becoming the
world's longest hydraulically inserted pipe. The entire process took about 17 days.
"Completing the installation of the pipeline under the Humber is a major milestone for both the
project team and partners," said Steve Ellison, senior project manager, Capital Delivery, for National
Grid. "We will now begin work to connect the pipeline to the network, ready for gas to begin
flowing towards the end of the year.

Chicago Plans to Replace
Lead Water Pipes
Chicago water management officials say they
are working on a plan to replace the lead service
pipes that connect more than 350,000 homes to
the city's cast-iron street mains, but it is not clear
how the massive program will be funded.
Water Management Commissioner Randy
Conner estimated in August that it could cost
upwards of $8 billion to replace all of the pipe.
The city previously made homeowners foot the
bill for replacement.
Chicago has more lead service lines than any
other city in the country, officials say, because its
plumbing code required the use of lead to connect
homes to street mains until 1986, when the practice
was banned by an act of Congress.
Last year, the city halted a program of installing
residential water meters, because it discovered the
process sometimes caused more lead to get into the
water. Many Chicago residences have un-metered
water service and are billed for estimated usage.

SEPTEMBER 2020 | UCONonline.com

Chicago's lead-pipe issues have been known for
decades. The city tried applying chemical additives
to its water supply to form a protective coating inside
lead pipes, but a federal study in 2013 determined
the coating breaks down under certain conditions.

Michigan Reaches $600 Million
Settlement in Flint Water Crisis
The state of Michigan has agreed to pay
$600 million to residents of Flint, who were
harmed by lead-tainted water in a disaster
that made the city a nationwide symbol of
government mismanagement.
Nearly 80 percent will go to claimants who
were minor children during the period covered by
the deal, with the largest share - 64.5 percent -
devoted to children who were ages 6 and under
when first exposed to the contaminated water.
If approved, the settlement would push state
spending on the Flint water crisis over $1 billion.
Michigan already has pumped more than
$400 million into replacing water pipes,

San Diego Approves Phase 1
of $3 Billion Water Project
Local regulators have approved Phase 1 of the
$3 billion Pure Water San Diego Program, which
seeks to locally supply a third of the City's water
supply by the end of 2035.
The first phase of the project includes a series
of facilities and pipelines to clean recycled water to
produce 30 million gallons per day of high-quality
purified water, reducing the city's dependence on
imported water from Northern California and the
Colorado River.
The purified water will blend with the city's
imported and local water sources and be re-treated at the Miramar Water Treatment Plant before
distribution to the public.
Phase 1 projects include the Morena Pump Station and Pipelines, North City Water Reclamation
Plant Expansion, North City Pure Water Facility, and
North City Pure Water Pump Station and Pipeline.
The NPDES permit issued to the City is the first
for a reservoir augmentation project in California
and a major milestone for the Pure Water San
Diego Program. Stantec and Brown and Caldwell
are providing program management services to
support the city with Phase 1.
"Water supply is perhaps the most critical issue
that San Diego must continue to address given
its semi-arid climate and reliance on imported
supplies," according to San Diego Public Utilities
Department Assistant Director John Stufflebean.

DOE Announces $33 Million
for Pipeline Retrofitting
Research Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced
$33 million in funding for 10 projects dedicated
to developing technology to rehabilitate
natural gas pipelines.

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Underground Construction - September 2020

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