The Water Corporation is replacing the old steel pipe underlays throughout Regional Western Australia. USA was contracted to replace the old steel mains in and around Kondinin with Sintakote pipe of equivalent size. They underlays picked for replacement where either having failures (bursts), or were replaced as a precautionary measure as they were under or beside busy gravel roads. Because we were replacing sections of a live water main, we had to devise a way of disinfecting the pipe work and get Water Corporation approval before installing it. To do this we secured a 110mm circular sponge to a 6 meter length of conduit, and swabbed the new Sintakote with a solution of chlorine and water. The pipes were then sealed with heavy duty plastic bags and duct tape, ready for installation. We designed a plan whereby we would excavate alongside the existing underlay complete the new section of pipe work and then make the final connections. This reduced the shut down time of the water supply to less than 1 day per section. Once the connections were made the new section was flushed with fresh water to remove any residual chlorine from when they were swabbed. The job was completed on time and with minimum disruption to Water Corporation customers and road users.
