SAWS Leon Creek Spicewood Emergency Project

Start to finish in 60 days

Project Purpose

The San Antonio Water System requested emergency engineering services for the replacement of 867 linear feet of 54-inch and 66-inch reinforced concrete pipe located at Spicewood Park due to a collapse of the existing sewer. The 54-inch line had collapsed completely and the parallel 66-inch line experienced partial collapse and was filled with dirt, reducing the capacity of the two lines to a small fraction of the required conveyance for this major interceptor.

Due to the severity of the collapse, SAWS determined that the collapsed segments had to be replaced immediately. If not addressed quickly, subsequent heavy rain events could have resulted in sanitary sewer overflows into Leon Creek. The project also included the design to replace approximately 275 LF of 42-inch recycled water main that posed constructability challenges for the sewer line installation.

Project Approach

To accelerate the delivery of required repairs, SAWS and KFA created two separate construction contracts to address the sewer collapse. One package was focused on setting up the sewer bypass and the second package was focused on the main replacement.

KFA developed a 75 MGD bypass pumping package for bidding in less than two days and prepared plans for open cut sewer replacement in 1.5 weeks from notification of the collapse. The bypass system was online within 30 days of the start of design and open cut construction was substantially complete by December 15th, approximately 60 days after the collapse.

Project Results

Due to the tremendous around-the-clock efforts of SAWS, the contractors, and the material suppliers, design was complete within two weeks and construction was completed in two months for this emergency project.

It was a challenging assignment. I’m proud KFA’s work as part of a great team with SAWS, the contractors, and material suppliers all working together to accomplish so much in such a short period of time.

Mike Persyn, PE, Project Manager

K Friese + Associates (KFA)