In September 2017, Hurricane Irma caused a major storm surge along the Atlantic coast of Central Florida. A 36-in. water transmission main in Cocoa, Fla., was damaged, interrupting normal water service to 250,000 residents and a number of government and military installations along the coast and barrier islands. Part of this main ran under the Indian River, which is actually a lagoon and much wider and deeper than its name implies.
Solution
The owners of Cocoa Utility engaged contractor Logan Diving of Jacksonville, Fla., to inspect the pipe. It found that scouring by the storm surge had undermined an 80-ft length of the 36-in. subaqueous AWWA C301 prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP), and this would have to be repaired or replaced.
Because of its expertise and experience in PCCP, the Thompson Pipe Group (TPG) Pipeline Services team was brought in. A service representative was immediately dispatched to assess the situation, and inventory of C301 PCCP was quickly checked.
Outcome
Through the use of alternate lines, water service was restored in 24 to 72 hours. TPG Pipeline Services’ engineer, the contractors and the utility company met onsite to plan the underwater replacement. The Cocoa utility stressed that particular care must be taken to prevent any contamination of the water supply to residents.
The 80-ft length of PCCP was installed without incident, and full capacity was restored by replacement of the dislodged pipe less than one month after the break was discovered. All risk of pollution of the water supply was successfully averted.
