AMERICAN Ductile Iron Pipe Provides 30,000 Feet of Pipe to Georgia Water Authority also appeared online at Underground Construction.

Watch a video of this project here.

The estimated $30-million West Side Loop 48-inch Replacement Project is one of three capital projects being conducted by the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority to provide additional water to western Cobb County and Paulding County in Georgia. For the project, a 48-year-old, 36-inch pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) that recently failed is being replaced with 48-inch ductile iron pipe.

AMERICAN Ductile Iron Pipe is providing approximately 30,000 feet of 48-inch-diameter V-Bio wrapped ductile iron pipe for the project. V-Bio enhanced polyethylene encasement protects pipe against aggressive soils. AMERICAN Flow Control is providing more than 20 resilient wedge gate valves with Flex-Ring® ends in sizes 24 to 48 inches in diameter.

According to Chris Dillard, a project manager with Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, the West Side Loop Project will provide redundancy and reliability to the Authority’s water transmission system. Dillard said the Water Authority specified ductile iron pipe because of its past performance in the utility’s system.

“AMERICAN provided us with information on the development of resilient wedge gate valves and assisted us in the transition from butterfly valves to gate valves for the project,” said Dillard.

AMERICAN Flow Control Sales Representative Drew Clayton said, “The majority of all valve applications are simple open and close applications. Butterfly valves are designed to throttle and have a disc in the center of the waterway, which can obstruct flow. Gate valves, however, do not have any obstructions in the waterway, and therefore, pumping costs are much lower. AMERICAN gate valves also come standard with a 10-year warranty, while most butterfly designs only offer one- to two-year warranties.”

AMERICAN Flow Control resilient wedge gate valves with Flex-Ring ends offer boltless restraint, reducing installation times and increasing joint flexibility. The valves are available in sizes up to 60 inches.

“Installing a Flex-Ring gate valve is like laying a piece of pipe. It takes less time, minutes compared to hours.”

“Installing a Flex-Ring gate valve is like laying a piece of pipe,” said Andy Anderson, Unity Construction vice president and project manager for the West Side Loop Project. “It takes less time, minutes compared to hours.”

Unity Construction is the general contractor for the West Side Loop Project, and Ron Woodall is Unity’s general superintendent for this project. Engineering Strategies Inc. (ESI) is the consulting engineer for the project, providing preliminary engineering and design as well as construction administration and observation services for the 48-inch water main replacement project. Pedro Rossello, the president of ESI, was the lead engineer for the project. ESI began design work on the project in mid-2014, and Unity began construction in the fall of 2015. The project is expected to be complete in spring 2017.

“Unity has been an AMERICAN customer since our founding in 1982,” said Anderson. “AMERICAN has always provided excellent products as well as outstanding customer service. We also find the knowledge of AMERICAN’s sales staff to be invaluable. We have always enjoyed our relationship with AMERICAN and look forward to working with them on many projects in the future.”

The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority is a regional public utility that provides water for drinking and fire protection on a wholesale basis. The Water Authority is the second largest supplier of drinking water in Georgia, and its customers include counties and municipalities in the metro area, as well as companies like Lockheed Martin.