How Best Practices Discussed in ASCE’s MOP 134 Are Essential to Both Condition Assessment and Asset Management Personnel

By George Ruchti

In the early morning hours of August 19, 2000, a natural gas transmission pipeline ruptured and ignited in New Mexico killing 12 people camping nearby. The rupture was determined to be the result of internal corrosion of the pipeline. The loss of life and property makes such pipeline condition assessment a critical need with remediation essential. The primary concern in the petroleum industry is electrically continuous butt-welded steel pipe. Inspection devices like smart pigs, with ultrasonic wall thickness testing capability, make it possible to determine the extent of pipe wall corrosion, if any, thus allowing for rehabilitation and future protection. Superior pipeline coatings and the application of cathodic protection have also been advantageous in providing successful asset management programs in that industry.

Unfortunately, the same integrity management systems do not hold true for water pipelines. These are composed of many different materials with different design and installation procedures and different modes of failure. Historically, pipe materials have included wood, wood stave, cast iron, ductile iron, steel, concrete (with 6 different varieties and properties), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high density polyethylene (HDPE), fiberglass and asbestos cement. Fortunately, water line failures rarely cause fatalities, although this may be due to luck rather than potential. To demonstrate that potential, a 200 lb. chunk of concrete from a concrete pipe rupture in Cleveland, was reported to have broken through a window on the second floor of a nearby office building.