Water and Sewer Pipelines
Pipeline work is linear, which sounds simple and is not. A single alignment can cross three jurisdictions, a dozen existing utilities, a creek, a rail line, and a street that cannot close.
We build transmission and collection pipelines for water and wastewater districts and for the developers whose projects depend on them.
A pipeline is a corridor problem
Most of the difficulty in pipeline construction is not the pipe. It is everything the alignment passes through: existing utilities of uncertain location, traffic that has to keep moving, private property and easement limits, environmental and seasonal windows, and the agency boundary that changes the applicable standard halfway along.
What we build
Materials and joints
Ductile iron, PVC, HDPE, steel, and reinforced concrete pipe each have their own handling, bedding, joint assembly, and restraint requirements, and each district has a view about which to use where. Restrained joint systems in particular are frequently installed incorrectly by crews unfamiliar with the specific system, and the failure shows up at pressure test if you are lucky and in service if you are not.
Testing and clearance as scheduled work
Hydrostatic pressure and leakage testing, swabbing and flushing, chlorination and dechlorination, sampling and bacteriological clearance, then final connection. On potable lines that sequence has fixed durations and a failed sample restarts part of it. Owners are consistently surprised by how long clearance takes because it is usually shown on the schedule as a single bar.
Shutdown coordination
Tie-ins to an operating system are scheduled with district operations, frequently at night, in windows that cannot slip. Planning includes the valves that will actually hold, the ones that will not, and what happens if the one nobody has exercised in fifteen years fails to close.
Differing site conditions
Buried conditions that differ from the contract documents need to be documented, measured, and evaluated the day they are exposed, because the evidence is covered within days. We record them contemporaneously as a matter of practice, which is a habit picked up from analyzing claims from the other side. See delay claims analysis.
Pipeline capabilities
- Transmission and distribution mains
- Gravity sewer and force mains
- Multiple pipe materials and joint systems
- Restrained joint and thrust restraint
- Trench shoring and dewatering
- Bore and jack coordination
- Live system shutdowns and tie-ins
- Hydrostatic and leakage testing
- Disinfection and bacteriological clearance
- Cathodic protection installation
- Pipeline rehabilitation and replacement
- Traffic control on arterial corridors
How we run this work
Every scope is bid against real quantities and built to the governing agency's standard.
Alignment risk review
A pre-bid walk and record review identifying crossings, jurisdiction changes, and the conditions most likely to differ from the plans.
Testing and clearance schedule
Every testing and disinfection step shown with realistic duration, including what a failed sample costs in time.
Shutdown and tie-in plan
Agreed with district operations, with contingency for valves that do not perform as expected.
Potholing record
Physically verified locations of critical crossings before the trench opens.
Contemporaneous condition record
Photographs and measurements of any differing condition on the day it is exposed.
Acceptance documentation
Test results, materials certifications, and as-built alignment assembled to the district's requirements.
Questions we get on this scope
Do you self-perform pipeline work?
Yes, open cut installation is our own work. Trenchless crossings, specialty coatings, and certain rehabilitation methods are performed by specialty subcontractors under our contract and supervision.
How do you price unknown existing utilities?
We pothole what we can before bidding and price the remainder with a stated assumption and unit prices for the variance. A lump sum that silently absorbs unlimited unknown utility conflicts is not a real number, and every experienced bidder knows it.
Can you do emergency main repairs?
Yes. Broken mains do not wait for a procurement cycle. See emergency and time critical repairs.
Do you work on pump stations?
We build the civil, structural, and underground scope and coordinate the mechanical, electrical, and controls trades under our contract. On the OMWD project we delivered pump station, fore-bay tank, and transmission main work under design-build.
Get a bid on water and sewer pipelines
Send us the plans, the specification, and the schedule you are working to. We will tell you whether we are the right contractor for it and what it will cost.
Send us the project
Tell us the site, the scope, and the deadline. Initial consultations carry no fee and no obligation.