Mainline Break at Math Building
We had a mainline break west of the Math building, these large mainlines can pose a major challenge since everything has to go back together as soon as possible because the large mainlines are part of our looped irrigation system. When a loop mainline is down very large portions of campus landscape are without water so it is important to make the repair as quickly as possible.
A constant challenge with all irrigation pipe is soil shifting. As mother nature moves things around the soil puts pressure on the PVC pipe and will cause failures. This is true with all underground pipe including domestic water lines, gas lines, storm and sewer pipe. At the time of failure the pipes releases the tension from the ground in the form of lateral or vertical movement. This movement is the single most challenging part of getting the line back together irrigation innovation has been slower at creating new repair methods to account for the deflection. Recently a coupler has been modified from the domestic waterline industry to work with PVC pipe. This technology has been used for years to protect building piping from bursting during earthquakes and other natural phenomenon.
