News

Aquagrips Go Back-To-Back For The Future

Posted on 01st Mar 2005

When one of the two 36-inch cast iron mains that carry Plymouth’s water supply experienced the latest in a series of bursts, South West Water decided to slip-line with 630mm PE as the best long-term solution to the problem.

There is another main running parallel – which has the same specification – only a maximum of 400mm away in Haroldsleigh Avenue near the city centre, where the headline-hitting burst took place. The company thought it prudent to rehabilitate it in the same way.

The unthinkable alternative would have been the risk of a major supply failure - not just to the city’s 80,000 properties but to the strategically vital Devonport Dockyard, one of the UK’s principal submarine bases.

When the latest burst took place, it was back-to-back Viking Johnson couplings that were drawn from stock to make the emergency repair connections – and Viking Johnson supplied another 24 Aquagrip SDR17 flange adaptors for the end terminations between each section of the slip-lined main.

“We know from experience how dependable the Aquagrip fitting is, so it was an automatic choice to use with the 630 mm PE pipe,” said South West Water Regional Rehabilitation Manager Les Metcalfe.

“It was the right choice for the slip-lining too, because it meets the full Type 1 performance requirements of WIS 4-21-01. Strictly speaking, that’s not a requirement – but in the circumstances we needed to be absolutely certain that we had connections that could be relied on far into the future.”

< Back to article list