Repairing the Breaks

Eighteen 25-foot sections of damaged pipe will be replaced by new sections of pipe that are 20 feet long. The work is taking place 3,150 feet from shore in 35 feet of water.

1. Ballast rock from Santa Catalina Island has been lowered into place along the 500-foot stretch of damaged pipeline.

2. Damaged sections are lifted to the surface after being secured in a “saddle” lowered from the barge.

3. New sections of pipe are lowered and connected to the pipeline. The repaired section of pipe will be placed in a cradle of ballast rock to help secure it to the ocean floor.

The news along the waterfront for San Diego so far this year has been all bad. On Feb. 2, it was discovered that the ocean outfall pipeline, above, from the city’s lone sewage treatment plant on Point Loma had ruptured, spewing 180-million gallons a day of partially treated sewage close to the shore. Storms have delayed repairs and the cost has escalated from $10 million to $16 million. The chronic problem of Tijuana sewage caused more woes. Heavy rains caused shutdowns of a border station that pumps some Tijuana sewage to Point Loma for treatment, and that, combined with runoff from the Tijuana River, caused hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage to flow into the sea at the border. The two spills closed more than 20 miles of coastline.

Source: Kurt Kidman, city of San Diego Water Utilities Department