Ala Wai sewer pipe placed
The emergency bypass will give the city a backup to pumping sewage into the canal
Contractors for the city's $15 million emergency sewage bypass project have started putting high density polyethylene pipe into the Ala Wai Canal.
The pipe will float on the surface of the canal like a huge snake, growing longer each day until it reaches the Ala Moana Boulevard bridge in about a month, Jim McCoy, a spokesman for project manager M&E Pacific Inc., said last week.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The city has set up a Web site and hot line to provide information about the Beachwalk sewer bypass: beachwalkbypass.com and 203-5777.
|
The pipe is being built to give the city an alternative to pumping raw sewage into the canal, as it was forced to do March 24-29 when an aging pressurized sewer line broke.
The pollution of the Ala Wai Canal, Harbor and temporary closing of some Waikiki beaches because of the 48 million gallon spill brought attention to the fact that the city has no backup line in case of such a catastrophe.
The temporary bypass being installed through December is expected to remain in place for five to six years while a $30 million permanent line is built and the existing line is renovated as a permanent backup at a cost of $10 million.
Work on the temporary line began May 30 after Gov. Linda Lingle waived normal state permitting rules because of the potential disaster of another sewer break.
Workers expect to fuse five or six 50-foot lengths of pipe together each day of work and feed it gradually into the canal, said Boyd Stuckey, owner of S & S Fusion of Hooper, Utah.
Segments of pipe are joined by heating to 450 degrees for eight minutes at a pressure of 860 pounds per square inch, Stuckey said.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
A large pipe running into the Ala Wai Canal is being built for an emergency sewage bypass project. The floating pipe was about 100 yards into the Ala Wai Canal yesterday.
|
|
After cooling for two hours the two pipe segments are fused together "and the joint is stronger than the pipe itself," he said.
The slight flexing of the growing pipe as it floats atop the Ala Wai Canal will not stress the joints, Stuckey said.
This type of pipe is being used increasingly in municipal sewers and has been used for years in the oil industry and is very strong, he said.
When about 5,000 feet of pipe is fused, it will be sunk to the bottom of the canal and held in place with concrete weights.