Grand Isle, Louisiana’s only inhabited island, is a community of 1500 people that had no direct source of potable water. Residents were forced to purchase water, at high rates. A lack of potable water also made it difficult to accommodate the many tourists who visited the island. In 1999, PEEC installed a 32-mile water line that piped in Mississippi River water to Grand Isle, using an innovative design that maximized the line’s durability. Now the town’s residents receive up to two million gallons of water a day at a fraction of the rate charged by previous sources. Since the line was installed, eco-tourism in Grand Isle has doubled.
STREAMLINED SOLUTION PROVIDES MODEL FOR REGION
Grand Isle’s water distribution system was at the breaking point when PEEC was hired to bring the system back up to full strength. Along with other measures, we repaired the system’s main pipe, whose diameter had shrunk to only six inches due to build-up in the line. We used a specialized cleaning device normally used for pipelines to clean out the pipe. Our method effectively doubled the pipe’s capacity and is now used by municipalities throughout the area to keep water systems functioning at optimal levels.
PEEC focused its resources on designing 32 miles of 18-inch high-density polyethylene waterline, a new 2 MGD pump station, and two water storage tanks and controls for the system. The line was installed using a directional drilling method at several locations to cross under several high-pressure gas lines and other major oilfield pipelines. PEEC was responsible for application services, preliminary and final design, project plans and specifications, permits, opinion of total project costs, bidding services, topographic surveying, geotechnical engineering, and construction.