Sioux Falls Structural Relining Water Lines

Location
Sioux Falls, SD

The stretch of pipe along 41st Street in Sioux Falls had reached the end of its useful life and needed to be rehabilitated. The watermain was experiencing frequent breaks due to the soil's corrosive conditions in the area, which led to deterioration, significant breaks, and roadway damage. The ductile iron and cast-iron pipes were installed in the 1960s and 1970s without mortar lining, leading to tuberculation in the pipe, creating pressure and head losses. Rehabilitating the pipe provided a more reliable water distribution with fewer breaks and maintenance shutdowns. The city opted to use trenchless construction for the replacement. Trenchless requires a shorter construction schedule than traditional open-cut methods and has less impact on surrounding residents, businesses, and traffic.

Project Details

The project was located at 41st Street in Sioux Falls, between Sertoma Avenue and Marion Road. The rehabilitated pipe consisted of 2,700 LF of 20" ductile iron pipe and 2,300 LF of 16" transmission pipe, both replaced with 20" and 16" fused PVC pipe. The selected rehabilitation method was pipe bursting, in which the existing pipe is demolished in place and replaced with a new fused pipe. The pipe bursting machine was placed in the receiving pit on one end of the existing pipe, and the new pipe was attached to the bursting head in the pit on the opposite end of the existing pipe. The bursting head then pulled the new pipe through while breaking up the existing pipe.

This was the first watermain bursting project in Sioux Falls and the longest burst of 20" ductile iron pipe in the United States at 400 feet.

For this project, we provided: