Amador County – Rod Schuler, long time Amador County water engineer, found a lack of records for the Central Amador Water Project was part of unknown risks that diminish life expectancy estimates for the system.

In a report to be presented to the Amador Water Agency Board of Directors on Thursday, Schuler will discuss some of his findings in an unsolicited opinion paper he wrote after looking at CAWP records. Schuler said the opinion paper was “a discussion regarding my professional opinion of the risk of continued service of the CAWP Emergency Pipeline form the Tiger Creek Afterbay to the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant.” He said the paper was unsolicited by the AWA, and was based on his knowledge of the system, project information gathered during the years since his first employment with the county in October 1978, and while reviewing CAWP files in the AWA archives.

Schuler said questions arose about handling of the pipe, its treatment with waterproofing sealant material, and the installation, and whether field welds or damage were properly treated to prevent corrosion. Among observations, he said “a complete certified copy of the final set of Contract Specifications was not discovered during the file search. There were no documents found indicating that the field-welded joints were treated to prevent corrosion or how any damaged coating was repaired.”

Excerpts from documents included briefs from an inspector’s report, Sept. 13, 1977 that said the “contractor attempted to place (in one operation) more than 280 feet of welded joints, when the pipe buckled.” He said “it is not clear if the re-welded ‘buckled’ pipe was coated to resist corrosion,” and “it is safe to say that the interior of the 40-foot sections of pipe at the field welds were not recoated to resist corrosion.”

Schuler noted that the CAWP system was installed under emergency conditions during the 1976-1977 drought to serve 10 upcountry water districts, whose wells were failing. Amador County led the design and construction, then dedicated the system to AWA.

After many years and six or seven office changes, Schuler said, the CAWP files have been “diluted” to the point “where specific documents that would be helpful in estimating the service life of the emergency pipeline could not be found.”

He said they did not know the results of pressure testing, only that the pipeline in one section met standards of the American Water Works Association, for 565 pounds per square inch pressure. They don’t know the type of wrap used for coating the pipe, and after coating, how the pipe was handled during loading, transporting, unloading, stringing and laying of the pipe in the trench. Questions included how any damage to the coating and lining was repaired, and whether field-welds were lined and coated.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.