Saturday, February 8, 2025

Securing Potable Water Supplies For Valencia

With the successful installation of the SAERTEX-LINERS H2O, the potable water supply for over 1.6 million people in Valencia, Spain, was secured in the late summer of 2020

With the successful installation of the SAERTEX-LINERS H2O, the potable water supply for over 1.6 million people in Valencia, Spain, was secured in the late summer of 2020. The more than 500 m of pressure line were rehabilitated using the advantages of the UV-CIPP trenchless rehabilitation method – the largest project of its kind on the Iberian Peninsula.

Securing the potable water supply of the metropolitan region of Valencia is the task of Empresa Mixta Metropolitana S.A. (EMIMET). A large distribution network transports the high-quality potable water from the treatment plants to the municipal distribution points of the 51 municipalities. To guarantee the continued supply of the northeastern suburbs of the city, and due to the structural condition, it was necessary to repair an existing gray cast iron pipeline (Fig. 1) with a nominal diameter of DN 600 and a length of just under 500 m. The route of the pipeline through the center of the Quart de Poblet district posed a major challenge. In addition to securing the economic supply of potable water, the impact of the construction work on residents and the existing infrastructure of the district was to be kept to a minimum.

Supporting services from planning to implementation

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The contract for this project was awarded to the Spanish company GRUPO CANALIS – Soluciones Tecnológicas, which specialises in trenchless rehabilitation work, in combination with the SAERTEX-LINER H2O from SAERTEX multiCom GmbH. This product, which won the ISTT Innovations Award in 2019, allows the advantages of the trenchless Cured-In-Place-Pipe (CIPP) procedure to be applied to pressure lines as well. In addition to economic efficiency, sustainable rehabilitation with a technical service life of 50 years and minimal road and earthworks required for installation, the issue of project safety was also a key aspect for EMIMET.

The complete solution portfolio with services from planning to implementation was used to carry out the project. Professionally qualified civil engineers from SAERTEX multiCom supported the customer’s project management and with their experience helped to implement the project in the most economic and targeted manner.

Several weeks before the start of construction, a site inspection was carried out with the participation of the client, the contractor and the suppliers. Many questions and problems could already be clarified at this early stage in the planning phase of the project. It also provided all the responsible authorities with an initial impression of the terrain conditions along the rehabilitation route, the traffic possibilities, the neighboring buildings and the storage facilities.

Full structural load capacity

Another important point of project preparations and planning is the calculation of the required statics for the glass fiber reinforced (GFRP) pipe liner. The calculation of the necessary statics for the SAERTEX-LINER H2O is offered as a supporting service. There is no need to outsource the services.

In terms of its static classification, the liner is tight-fitting in the old pipe and fully absorbs both external and internal loads. This corresponds to the international standards of Class A according to DIN EN ISO 11295 and Class IV according to AWWA M28 (Fig. 2).

Execution, trenchless advantages and control of process parameters

For quality assurance purposes, a two-day theoretical and practical training course was organised and held on site for the employees of GRUPO CANALIS – Soluciones Tecnológicas. The theoretical training covered topics such as the installation of the SAERTEX-LINER H2O, process limits and quality assurance. During the final practical training, participants practiced the installation using a test liner in the warehouses provided by EMIMET.

During construction, the rehabilitation route was divided into a total of five sections with lengths between 58 and 128 meters. For the installation of the liner, which has been specifically approved for use in potable water lines, only a few excavation pits were created in these defined sections of the rehabilitation route, thus ensuring access to the system. All the necessary work could be carried out over the excavation pits with depths up to 6 m without any problems (Fig. 4).

In order to react flexibly to unpredictable developments in the project during execution, the high storage stability of the pre- impregnated SAERTEX-LINER with a high shelf life of up to six months is a decisive advantage.

The installation of the pipe liner was carried out by the trained installation team of GRUPO CANALIS – Soluciones Tecnológicas. The supporting services of SAERTEX multiCom also came into play here. The company’s application technology was able to provide advisory support for a large number of project steps by providing on-site assistance.

To perfectly optimise the site equipment to the specific application, CANALIS supplemented its own equipment with the necessary packers, conveyors and plant technology from the SAERTEX multiCom rental range.

A summary of the essential installation steps:

  • Preparation of old pipe (such as cleaning (Fig. 5 + 6) and optical inspection)
  • Pulling in the pipe liner pre-impregnated with resin (Fig. 7 + 8 + 9)
  • Installation and calibration of the liner
  • Curing the liner with UV light
  • Connecting the liner ends with a liner end sleeve
  • Quality assurance: Sampling, optical inspection and leak test

After pulling in the GFRP pipe impregnated with styrene- free resin, it was cured with UV light. A major advantage of this technology is the continuous and digital control of the process parameters during the entire curing phase. The camera integrated on the UV light chain and integrated sensor technology provides real-time data to the control center of the rehabilitation vehicle on site. This enables the highest level of process reliability.

Restoration of potable water supply

The professional and pressure-tight transition between the SAERTEX-LINER H2O and the old pipe was achieved using liner end sleeves specially manufactured for this application. The inclusion of in this case maximum operating pressure of 10 bar is possible without problems. Finally, the pressure test was successfully mastered and nothing stood in the way of restarting the potable water supply of this pipeline section.

The entire installation, including training of the participants, could be realised within only 14 days. This is by far the largest project for the liner’s deployment on the Iberian Peninsula. In the meantime, this product innovation has been successfully installed in over 100 projects worldwide.

Approval in twelve countries of the world

The SAERTEX-LINER H2O is manufactured in the ISO 9001 certified plant in Münsterland. A special feature is also the unique vertical integration – from the textile reinforcement materials made of glass fibers to the resin-impregnated pipe liner system. The entire manufacturing process, from the production of dry goods to impregnation and subsequent storage, takes place under standardised, temperature- controlled conditions.

Production under these optimal, clean and hygienic conditions enables an excellent standard for use in the potable water sector. The SAERTEX- LINER H2O has now been approved for use in potable water lines in twelve countries – including Germany, the USA and Spain.

www.saertex-multicom.com

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Trenchless Works bringing you balanced journalism, accuracy, news and features for all involved in the business of trenchless and no-dig from around the world

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