With continued urban expansion and recent droughts, the City of Enid, OK embarked on a major infrastructure project to ensure clean, safe water to their nearly 50,000 residents. To reduce the demand on the region’s aquifers by 35%, as well as removing the lead-sealed joints from the existing 7.5 miles of cast iron water pipe, the City of Enid required a 70-mile raw water conveyance pipeline from Kaw Lake, OK and a new 10.5 MGD water treatment plant near the city.
To feed the new 70-mile raw water pipeline, Super Excavators Inc. (SEI) of Menomonee Falls, WI was contracted to perform a deep lake tap through hard rock before the waterline could be in operation. With a launch shaft at a depth of 100-ft below grade and ending in the lake, the project required a launch portal (pit seal) designed for high hydrostatic pressures. Akkerman designed and manufactured a launch portal seal and pipe brake system for SEI that eliminated the risk of seal inversion and pipe movement due to high hydrostatic head pressure. The launch portal seal also allowed SEI to pump environmentally friendly lube from the launch shaft or pump grout if a mitigation plan were to be required.
SEI deployed an Akkerman SL74 MTBM outfitted with a rock disc cutter head. The electrically driven MTBM included a rear bulkhead that allowed the machine to be exhumed from the lake bottom when the alignment was completed. Several agencies including the City of Enid, Garver Engineering, LLC, Garney, SEI, among others held a launch party on February 1, 2022. SEI was then able to get set-up and launch the Akkerman slurry microtunneling equipment for it’s 510-ft voyage into Kaw Lake. On March 3, 2022, SEI called for the specialized divers to assist the retrieval process.
Special thanks to Brian Strane of SEI for the project photos. Information credit to the City of Enid website.
NASTT No-Dig Conference
April 10 – 13 | Booth #216
Come see us at the NASTT No-Dig Conference and check out the latest machinery redefining trenchless solutions.
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Akkerman Featured in Trenchless Technology
Irrigation supply is critical for the livelihood of farmers and residents in Southern Alberta. To protect the quality of irrigation water during severe weather and extreme flooding, a Stormwater Management Cooperative system was designed to reduce localized flooding by collecting, storing and moving stormwater more effectively throughout the region.
The critical line and grade of the bore called for a pilot bore completed with an Akkerman 240A guided boring machine combined with a traditional auger boring machine to install the larger casing in multiple passes. The combination of pilot boring followed by traditional auger boring methods is an increasingly popular choice for close tolerance line and grade casing installations.
