Sliplining Used to Rehabilitate Niagara Falls Sewer
January 17, 2017
Pushing forces were recorded from a load cell, which was mounted to the push ring and attached to a short section of HOBAS pipe and used for installation.
The City of Niagara Falls, N.Y., is located on the Niagara River, across from the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, and named for the famed Niagara Falls, which they share. Water and sewer services within Niagara Falls, N.Y., and adjoining areas are provided by the Niagara Falls Water Board (NFWB).
The NFWB serves 50,000 people through more than 16,000 accounts, including residents, businesses and industries. The board’s vision is very specific: “The goal of the Niagara Falls Water Board is to become a first-class competitive utility in the next five to seven years.” The NFWB has a strategy to get them there, including continually investing in infrastructure to maintain facilities while economically providing customer service. This is exactly what spurred the recent Iroquois Street Sewer Lining Project.
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Outdated Infrastructure
Segmental block pipe came into use in the early 1900s and was used until the 1930s, when precast pipe became more readily available. The original Iroquois Street sewer was built in 1917 and utilized segmented block to construct the 54-in. diameter sewer.
In the late 1980s, NFWB began a series of projects aimed at reducing significant groundwater infiltration present in this portion of their service area. The projects included downstage and chemical grouting, internal and external pipe seals and flow rerouting. In the early 2010s, sewer flows were again rerouted to abandon and seal off the most heavily damaged and leaking section of the sewers.
The past repairs on sewers and tunnels provided some good benefits. However, the Iroquois Street sewer was recently was found to have serious structural problems in addition to prominent infiltration. The groundwater infiltration was estimated at about 5 million gpd. In spring 2013, an investigation into the problems and evaluation of corrective alternatives commenced. The specific stretch of sewer under investigation was the 2,200-ft length from Buffalo Avenue to the Southside Interceptor.
“What was first thought to be an infiltration problem evolved to include serious sewer structural and longevity concerns,” AECOM senior project manager John Goeddertz, Ph.D. “Due to the depth of the sewer and the presence of underground utilities associated with both a nearby chemical plant and an electrical substation, a minimal amount of excavation was preferable. The industrial nature of the surrounding land and interfering utilities favored a sliplining approach for sewer rehabilitation. The specifications were written around sliplining the sewer and connecting tunnel with a small variety of acceptable liners.”
It was determined that a 36-in. inside diameter liner pipe was suitable for conveying the anticipated sewage flow.
Material Options
The contract documents allowed the use of three different pipe materials including fusion welded HDPE, fusion welded PVC or centrifugally cast fiberglass reinforced polymer mortar. The Hobas pipe was the only gasket sealed pipe allowed due to the fact that it was the only one that could withstand the potential compressive forces needed to push 1,500 ft of pipe from a single push pit. One push pit was specified to minimize the potential for uncovering contaminated soils while excavating.
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Yarussi Construction of Niagara Falls, N.Y., was awarded the project and chose to use Hobas pipe for the installation. “The overall cost of using Hobas with the segmental joints was less expensive as a total installed cost,” stated Yarussi estimator and project manager Camil Pachucki.
As part of the sewer cleaning operation, intermediate manholes were excavated and a mandrel was pulled to verify proper clearance for liner insertion. “We shipped all of the pipe from Houston, Texas, to Niagara Falls, via truck within a week’s time in September of 2015,” Hobas Pipe USA commercial manager Rob Epstein stated.
Once the host pipe was prepared, Yarussi sliplined 80 percent of the length in three days from a single push pit, inserting liner pipe in both directions. In all, 1,175 ft of the segmented block sewer were cleaned and lined.
There were two separate lining operations, one proceeding southward from the push pit and one proceeding northward. The southward lining operation pushed approximately 900 ft of pipe, with about 300 ft being installed to the north. The stretch was completed by open-cut methods into the rock tunnel section, again using Hobas pipe.
“We were able to easily install all the sliplining pipe from one pit and as a requirement of the specifications, we used a load cell on the push frame and it recorded the load on the pipe. We pushed the pipe in with flow, and it slid in very well,” stated Pachucki.
The recorded loads increased consistently as subsequent segmental pipes were added to the line. The maximum load on the northward run was approximately 10,000 lbs and roughly 21,000 lbs for the southward section. The calculated friction factor for the two runs was 0.21 and 0.45, respectively.
“This value is very typical of what is reported in Hobas sliplining installations,” stated Hobas engineering supervisor Rene Garcia.
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Mission Accomplished
NFWB technical services director Richard Roll remarked that “The principal goal of the project was to reduce inflow and infiltration, and the results have been promising, reducing chemical usage and pumping costs at the treatment plant while also reducing wet-weather combined sewer overflow. In addition, an old sewer in the process of failing has been replaced with one expected to provide many decades of reliable service.”
Kimberly Paggioli, P.E., is vice president marketing at Hobas Pipe USA.
