 "And
if you believe that, I have some swampland in Florida for sale."
That saying has been around for years. The truth behind that
saying makes Florida one of the most unique states when it comes
to water utilities. One utility in particular, Florida Water
Services, Orlando, the state's largest privately owned water
utility, provides 35 million gallons of water a day to more
than half a million customers in 120 Florida communities. Maintaining
those systems effectively and efficiently is a difficult task.
Florida Water Services (FWS) has turned to trenchless methods
to meet the challenge.
Since becoming a state in 1845, Florida
has seen several periods of extremely rapid growth. In the early
1900s, state officials began draining some of Florida's swampland
to make it suitable for commercial and agricultural use. Word
of rich farmland and financial opportunity in Florida quickly
spread throughout the country. Cheap swampland was for sale
in Florida.
During this first boom in population
and again after World War II, during the second boom, developers
came to Florida. Many of them were granted permission to develop
areas of land into trailer parks and small communities with
one stipulation: They had to provide their own water/wastewater
utility. During that time, that was not hard to do.
Florida Water Services Spokesman
Tracy Smith, explains, "Florida sits on one of the largest fresh
water aquifers in the world, over 800 cubic miles in size. Simply
put, for a developer to tap into that resource all he would
have to do is poke a hole in the ground."
Eventually those developers reached
the point where they had built up their area as far as it could
go or as far as they wanted it to go. At that point, many realized
they did not want to be tied down with the responsibilities
of being a water/wastewater utility. That's when Florida Water
Services entered the picture.
 Utility
players Florida Water Services was incorporated in 1961. Initially
FWS was a combination of six small Central Florida water companies
and a subsidiary of Universal Telephone. In 1984, Universal
Telephone was purchased by Topeka Group Inc. When Topeka Group
purchased the Deltona Corporation's utility systems in 1989,
those utilities became part of Florida Water Services, doubling
it in size and making it the largest investor owned water utility
in the state.
Today in Florida, there are approximately
6,700 privately owned utilities. Many of these are "mom and
pop" utilities, trailer park owners or small developers. Through
mergers and acquisitions, FWS continues to gain control of privately
held utilities. Their last acquisition occurred in 1994 and
there could be more in the works.
Smith said, "While we do not purchase
dilapidated utilities, eventually systems already in our control
need to be repaired or upgraded. Keeping those costs low and
providing good customer service are our main objectives." FWS
kept those objectives in mind for a water main and service line
replacement project that recently took place in the Beacon Hills
area.
Beacon Hills is a residential neighborhood
of Jacksonville. It became part of the Florida Water Service
coverage area in 1982. Earlier this year, some residents of
the area noticed a substantial loss of water pressure. Other
residents encountered rusty, odorous water with a heavy iron
taste.
After looking into the problem, FWS
determined that the main and service lines needed replacement.
FWS Design Services Manager Dennis Westrick explained, "The
water mains in that area were asbestos concrete and galvanized
steel. The AC pipe had deteriorated and sections of the two-inch
galvanized steel pipe were so tuberculated that one could barely
see through them."
Customer Service Florida Water Services
places a great deal of emphasis on customer service and efficiency.
Smith said, "We are a rising-cost industry. When we have to
go in and recover costs, we have to demonstrate prudence in
all of our expenditures." In order to be as efficient as possible
and maintain good customer relations, FWS turned to trenchless
technology for the Beacon Hills project.
 This
type of "clean construction," as Westrick put it, contributes
greatly to maintaining positive public relations. Conventional
construction would have interfered with the day to day activities
of Beacon Hills residents. By using trenchless technology, FWS
could minimize street, driveway and landscape disruption.
Burnup & Sims Telcom of Florida,
now Mastec, was awarded the bid to replace the old water main
and install new service lines for the 3,200 residents of Beacon
Hills. While Burnup & Sims is well-known in the telecommunications
industry, this past February the company began offering water
and sewer rehabilitation services in Florida. Larry Morris,
Water and Sewer Service Manager for Burnup & Sims said, "The
company realized the opportunity that sewer and water rehabilitation
and reconstruction presented, and decided to expand into that
field."
Morris already had a Vermeer D-24
directional drill for the main line installations, but needed
a tool for putting in the service lines. He said, "Initially
we thought we could do the job with just a directional drill
unit. That wasn't the case. We needed to enlist the help of
a piercing tool for the service lines." Morris added one three-inch
Grundomat piercing tool from TT Technologies.
Over the course of eight weeks, Morris'
crew installed approximately 6,000 linear feet of six-inch and
four-inch PVC water main with the directional drill and 70 service
lines - averaging 30 feet each - with the piercing tool.
The Burnup & Sims crew installed
the new PVC water main parallel to the existing AC main. After
a 400-foot section of main was in place, crew members dug launch
pits at the main line and exit pits next to the service hook-up
at the residence. Crews used a Grundoscope telescopic aiming
frame and surveyor stake to ensure accuracy. The new two-inch
PVC casing was pulled into place by the piercing tool simultaneously
as the bore was being made. The new one-inch service line pipe
was fed through the casing by hand.
The crew encountered sandy soil conditions,
as well as hard clay. This did not, however, affect the accuracy
of the directional drill or the piercing tool. Morris said the
performance of the piercing tool was exceptional. Bores took,
on average, between 30 and 45 minutes each.
The combination of the directional
drilling unit and the piercing tool was highly effective. Morris
said, "The piercing tool allowed us to expedite the project.
We were able to use the directional drill for the main line
and the piercing tool for the service lines. We could do eight
service lines a day."
Trenchless Impressions Since the
Beacon Hills job, Burnup & Sims has done several other trenchless
jobs for Florida Water Services. FWS is very pleased with the
work being done and the utilization of trenchless methods.
Smith said, "Trenchless technology
is cost-competitive. It allows us to go in and make the necessary
repairs or enhancements to our systems, provide better product
quality and maintain costs."
After 6,000 feet of trenchless water
main installation and 2,100 feet of trenchless service line
installation, it's safe to say that there's more underfoot in
Florida than just cheap swampland.
Underground Construction, October
1998, Pages 42-43
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