Piping hot repairs

Paul Clinton

One section of a major sewer artery along the Back Bay smelled like a

surfboard factory this week, as workers implanted a resin-based lining to

help repair the pipe.

A crew of men stuffed the lining into an inverted pipe leading to the

24-inch steel pipe as part of $8.09 million in work to repair more than

2,700 feet of line and replace another 6,800 feet of sewer pipe along the

bay.

Using a black hose like one found on a fire engine, the crew pumped

cold water into the sock-like lining, pushing it into place inside the

pipe.

A bright-orange pump was used to remove the water, where it was then

heated with four butane-fired burners, boiling the styrene in the liner.

The felt hardens like a board, shaping itself to the mold of the inside

of the steel pipe.

“It’s just like a surfboard,” said Dave Badgley, a spokesman for

Sancon Technologies, the company installing it. “The resin goes from a

liquid to a solid.”

The resin-laced internal lining, because it doesn’t have joints, will

prevent future spills of sewage from any leaks in the pipe from heading

into Back Bay. In construction parlance, the process of installing the

inner felt substance is called “slip-lining.”

The cutting-edge project has been lauded by city officials who say

it’s a good way to repair large sewer pipes while being protective of the

sensitive bay habitat.

It has allowed the Orange County Sanitation District to replace a pipe

system without digging out the old pipes, which would take considerably

longer, cost much more and endanger the protected bay.

“It’s probably the least intensive way to rehabilitate a pipe system,”

Newport Beach Public Works Director Steve Badum said. “What they’re doing

is a good project for the city and good for the environment.”

The sanitation district hired contractor Ken Thompson Inc. of Cypress

in June to oversee the job.

As part of the agreement, the contractor will also repave Back Bay

Drive. Newport Beach and the district will split the $120,000 cost of

paving the 1.2 miles of road. The city will pay for redoing a half-mile

section of the road, which will not be dug up during the work.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .