WA County Water Conservancy Installs HDPE
The Washington County Water Conservancy District began this project to deliver water to irrigators four-and-a-half miles away at Anderson Junction. The project consisted of the district piping an old ditch called the Peter Anderson Ditch. Water loss along the ditch was large and often only a trickle was left at the end of the ditch. Typically, 30% of the water in an open irrigation ditch is lost to evaporation, especially in an arid state such as Utah. The leak-proof seals in HDPE pipe eliminate this evaporation.
The district worked with Dave Kent of Ferguson Enterprises to supply its pipe, manufactured by WL Plastics. Ferguson is the industry’s second largest distributor of pipes, valves and fittings, waterworks, and heating and cooling equipment in North America.
For the development of the system, WL Plastics provided over 64,000 feet of 4 to 14 inch pipe. The district has been using HDPE pipe for many years, the first installation being the Sky Ranch Pipeline main feed line, back in 1990’s. They have been using HDPE pipe ever since then for most of their applications.
The district chose HDPE pipe because it is economical, corrosion resistant, failure resistant, crack resistant, surge resistant, chemically resistant and easily installed. The pipe’s zero leak rate and long service life were also cited as reasons for choosing HDPE.
“The strength, durability and reliability of HDPE pipe make it a great material for transporting water and for surviving floods and sliding” stated Project Coordinator Doug Wilson. In particular, the district decided on the use PE4710 pipe due to its improved hydraulics, resistance to slow crack growth, and because it was economical.
WL Plastics manufactured the necessary 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 14- inch high density pipe for the pipeline project. The district, because of its experience with using polyethylene in its water distribution system, was looking forward to the opportunity to install a fused HDPE system with the new and improved material found in PE 4710.
By choosing HDPE pipe, the district was able to increase the strength of the system, reduce the possibility of leaking at joints, and limit future maintenance activity while reducing installed cost. The properties of HDPE pipe also assisted with the installation of the pipeline due to the curving nature of the ditch (flexibility), remote location (less large equipment) and with the fact that the pipeline route followed an old ditch which meant encountering many boulders and rocks, some as large as cars (durability). Fusing was done using certified fusing technicians with data logs and records kept on every fusion joint.
Both the workers with the Washington County Water Conservancy District and the third-party contractors commented on the ease of installation of the HDPE pipe provided by WL Plastics. “Using HDPE pipe was a very viable and economical solution to pipe the old Peter Anderson Ditch” said Project Coordinator Doug Wilson. Because of this, and the willingness of WL Plastics to work with the district on overcoming design obstacles, the district plans to continue to utilize HDPE pipe in additional parts of this project.
“Ferguson and WL Plastics provided a low bid and met our pipe specifications. WL Plastics has a proven track record and has consistently delivered high quality HDPE pipe that meets or exceeds our specifications”, said Wilson.
