The Challenge
Founded in 1897, San Diego State University is a public university located in San Diego, California, and accommodates approximately 35,000 students across a total area of 214 acres.
As part of a reconstruction project, the University appointed a local contractor to install approximately 550 feet of 6” C900 PVC. Subsequently, an issue arose in which water was appearing to run into a steam vault located on the newly reconstructed and paved street.The university facilities management department needed to find a solution and consulted Aquam Pipe Diagnostics (APD) to diagnose the problem.
The Solution
APD was commissioned to identify the source of the unexplained water using a specialist pipeline inspection technology. The Investigator™ is a pressurized pipe inspection and leak detection tool which features a high-definition CCTV camera for visual condition assessment, a hydrophone for leak detection, and a sonde for pipeline tracing. In this situation, the application was both visual and acoustic. The Investigator™ was launched through a live fire hydrant to facilitate the inspection.
The Results and Benefits
APD established that no leak or acoustic point of interest was present during the initial inspection. However, a second insertion was conducted in an effort to validate that the source of water was not further down the line and moreover, to establish if there was a relationship between the leak and the reconstruction project. The Investigator™ was deployed once again through an existing fire hydrant branch and as the investigation resumed, the real time visual display demonstrated that the pipe was deflected due to a misaligned mechanical joint under the sidewalk. This deformation in the pipe configuration had created a leak allowing the water to spill out onto the street. As a result of the inspection, the University was able to address a defect in the pipe that would have otherwise gone undetected. If APD had not intervened, the consequences associated with water loss, significant collateral damage and risks to public health and safety could have been staggering.
“Aquam Pipe Diagnostics stopped a war that was brewing,” said Loren Waldapfel, HPS Mechanical project development. “[We] couldn’t be happier with the technology, and how it performed.”