City of Austin Selects 36-inch HDPE for New Water Transmission Mainline

The Project:  The City of Austin, Texas is currently home to nearly 1.7 million residents, a number that is expected to double by 2030. The city’s explosive population growth combined with several years of severe drought conditions had placed an unsustainable water supply demand on the city’s aging water transmission infrastructure. To keep pace with this growing metropolitan area, the City decided to install 5,200 linear feet of new pipeline between Elroy Road and FM 812.

The Specifications: Although the majority of the City’s existing pipeline is made of cast iron, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) 36-inch pipe was selected for the Elroy Transmission Main due to its capacity, leak-free joints, resistance to corrosion, and its ability to be fused together into one continuous pipeline. Because a portion of the new waterline was in close proximity to the City of Austin FM 812 landfill, the City’s design engineers selected a jointless pipe design to minimize the possibility of cross contamination.

The Solution: For the new waterline, Performance Pipe provided 800,000 pounds of 36-inch DR11 HDPE pipe, which was connected to a pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe on one end and transitioned over to ductile iron once the HDPE pipe exited the landfill property. The system is engineered to resist corrosion and endure drought and flood conditions for more than 100 years. The pipe was produced in Brownwood, Texas and supplied to HD Supply Waterworks, a distributor for Performance Pipe. The pipe was fused on the job site in Austin by Gajeske, Inc.

The Benefits: Utilizing HDPE for the Elroy Transmission Main project provided the City of Austin with an environmentally sensitive, leak-resistant, and cost-effective water transmission main solution that will provide highly reliable service for future generations.