Sonoma County, CA
Sonoma County Water Agency, Transmission System Pipeline
Scope/Solutions
The Sonoma County Water Agency manages a regional water supply to ensure its customers have access to clean water. Wanting to preserve their assets, the agency needed to understand the condition of their aging transmission system pipelines to help identify deterioration and plan for repairs. SGH performed petrographic and metallurgical analyses on extracted pipeline coupons to help with this evaluation.
SGH evaluated coupons extracted from the steel transmission system pipelines, some with and without cement mortar lining, to identify any deleterious conditions. Highlights of our work include the following:
- Performing petrographic analyses on cement mortar lining samples to evaluate its ability to provide corrosion protection to the steel; look for signs of segregation, carbonation, chloride contamination, or alkali-silica reaction; and identify any other characteristics or constituents that could lead to mortar deterioration
- Conducting microscopic evaluations of steel pipe coupons to measure section loss and analyze corrosion
- Reviewing water analysis reports to investigate whether there is any correlation between the observed deterioration and water chemistry
- Summarizing our findings and recommendations for the agency’s review
1 of 4
Project Summary
2014
Completion Date
Solutions
Repair & Rehabilitation
Services
Applied Science & Research | Advanced Analysis
Markets
Infrastructure & Transportation
Client(s)
Sonoma County Water Agency
Specialized Capabilities
Buried Infrastructure | Microscopy
Key team members
Jesse Beaver
Head of Engineering Mechanics and Infrastructure
Additional Projects
West
San Francisco Ferry (WETA) Terminal Expansion Project
The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority undertook the Downtown San Francisco Ferry Terminal Expansion Project to upgrade the terminal facilities and expand ferry service, including travel from San Francisco to Richmond and Treasure Island.
West
NuStar Marine Oil Terminal
SGH successfully demonstrated the adequacy of the shared 1950s wharf to safely support new oil transfer operations and developed a design for the new terminal accepted by the California State Lands Commission.