Guided by John Vogelsang, bottom, and watched over by Travis Groo, a pipe is hoisted into the air after being prepared with grease to make the connection smoother. The city is using a "slip line" repair process in which heavy duty plastic pipe will be slipped through an older, concrete pipe. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Sewer system upgrade

City of Lodi starts $7.5 million project to fix 5 miles of pipe

Construction workers Wednesday began an ambitious $7.5 million project to replace nearly 5 miles of pipe that connects the city of Lodi with its wastewater treatment plant at White Slough.

The city is using a "slip line" repair process, in which 22,000 feet of heavy duty plastic pipe will be slipped through an older, concrete pipe.

The 48-inch-wide concrete pipe had been corroded from being exposed to gas emitted from countless gallons of effluent in the past few decades, said city spokesman Jeff Hood.

The city was aware of the corrosion, but not its extent until recent months, said Public Works Director Richard Prima.

A letter from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board reinforced the city's need to repair the line.

"We knew we needed to work on it," Prima said, adding that a contracted worker even fell into the pipe when a corroded section gave way while he was conducting a survey of the pipe a few months ago. The line had been shut off and sewage rerouted prior to the incident, Prima said.

Western Water Constructors Inc., based in Santa Rosa, is managing the project, which is the largest the company has ever conducted.

Workers will be digging six huge trenches, 20 feet long, 10 feet deep and 8 feet wide, to get to the old line.

One such trench has been dug near Van Ruiten Winery, and crews were working there Wednesday.

"Guys were pruning vines right next to where the workers were doing the work," Hood said.

After the concrete pipe is exposed, workers then cut off the top half of the older pipe. A 15-foot section of the new, plastic pipe is lowered down into the concrete line and then pushed "up stream" into the older pipe. Because the diameter of the new pipe is 42 inches, workers fill the gap between the plastic and concrete pipes with grout, Hood said.

The new pipe is being pushed to a point near Lower Sacramento Road. After the first new section of plastic pipe is installed, workers will move to another trench and eventually reach White Slough at the end of the project, expected to wrap up in June.

In the meantime, Lodi's sewage is being sent to the treatment plant via the city's industrial line.

Hood said the line has plenty of capacity for sewage as none of the city's large canning plants are operating. When that begins, the sewer line project should be complete he said.

He added that the city had to spend $1 million just to clean out the old concrete pipe to ensure that when crews installed the new plastic pipe it wouldn't snag and be damaged.

The manufacturer of the plastic pipe, Lamson Vylon Pipe in Cleveland, Ohio, devoted its entire manufacturing floor for two months to make enough pipe for the project, Hood said.

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.