Owner:

WEB Water Development Association, Aberdeen, S.D.

Project Summary:

20 years after the WEB Water Development Association installed more than 100 miles of AMERICAN ductile iron pipe, forming the association’s original transmission line, WEB and AMERICAN hooked up again to expand a water treatment plant and add five miles of ductile iron pipe to the system.

WEB’s original ductile iron pipeline, completed in 1989, extends from a water intake point on the Missouri River to a water treatment plant near Selby, S.D. From there, the line parallels U.S. Highway 12 across open prairie and farmland to its terminus in Webster. The five additional miles of new pipeline were installed parallel to the existing line, which runs east-west for 150 miles.

Key Players:

The WEB Water Development Association system covers 5,450 square miles that include 14 counties in South Dakota and three in North Dakota. The WEB acronym stands for the original three counties involved with the new system: Walworth, Edmunds and Brown. By the time the system went into operation a generation ago, WEB provided service in 11 counties, but six more have come on board. The system serves more than 90 percent of the farms and rural homes within WEB’s service area.

Black & Veatch (Centennial, Co.) served as engineer for the recently completed water treatment plant expansion. The general contractor was Rice Lake Construction Group (Deerwood, Minn.), and the distributor was Plant & Flanged Equipment Co. (Blaine, Minn.). For the mainline improvements, DeWild Grant Reckert & Associates (Rock Rapids, Iowa) was the engineer. The contractor was Dakota Underground Company (Fargo, N.D.).

What They Said:

“China might be able to produce T-shirts and basketball shoes, but I really don’t think they know how to produce pipe that will reliably meet AWWA and other construction standards. I think when you’re buying pipe for your water infrastructure, you need to buy products that are made and inspected according to AWWA standards. If you have a problem, who would you rather work with- an American company or a foreign company? I’d rather work with a company like AMERICAN. – Curt Hohn, WEB General Manager

“We’ve had some dig-ups to check the condition of the line, and the pipe looks just like it did when it was installed 20 years ago. The pipe’s interior remains smooth because of the cement-mortar lining. And the ductile iron pipeline can handle pressures of 250 psi or higher. It can handle the higher pressures better than plastic or other materials.- Curt Hohn, WEB General Manager

(Curt Hohn served as general manager for WEB Water from 1983 to 1987 and again from 1997 until his death in November 2010. He played a vital role in the system’s construction and development. WEB Water provides treated Missouri River water to 8,006 rural hookups, 107 towns/bulk users and five ethanol plants through 7,000 miles of pipeline.)

What They Used:

On the water treatment plant expansion, 563,794 pounds of 4″-36″ AMERICAN ductile iron pipe and fittings were installed, including Flex-Ring joint pipe, flanged joint pipe and Mechanical Joint Coupled Joint Pipe. The mainline improvements included 26,140 feet of 24″ Fastite joint pipe, 580 feet of 24″ Flex-Ring joint pipe, 147 24″ Fast-Grip gaskets and 15 lateral and tangential welded-on outlets.