An IPR crew inserts a CIPP liner into the Soapstone Valley sewer pipe. (April 2023 DC Water photo)
Preparations are under way for relining a lengthy stretch of century-old sewer pipe along the Soapstone Valley floor.
DC Water gave a progress report at ANC 3F’s June 20th meeting (video), and set out the next steps ahead of the next round of cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) installation.
DC Water’s May 2023 Soapstone sewer site map. The yellow dotted line marks the completed CIPP work. The words “70% complete” and “Upcoming” at Sites 4, 5 and 6 refer to stream rehabilitation work. (Click the image to view a larger version.)
The first section, marked above by the yellow dotted line, underwent the CIPP treatment from mid-March to approximately mid-April. The final inspections and acceptance of the CIPP work in that section, as well as manhole repairs, kept the project from moving on to the next segment as quickly as previously projected. (In April, DC Water said May for the next CIPP work. In May, it said June.)
That acceptance, announced in a June 14th email update, and the completion of the manhole work allowed DC Water’s contractor, IPR, to dismantle the bypass that cleared the sewage from the first section of the sewer pipe. The bypass system is now being moved and reassembled for the next phase. Once bypass installation is complete, DC Water expects to begin closed-circuit video inspections. A June 26th email update has that starting the week of July 17th.
The first CIPP phase installed the liners in five “shots” between Broad Branch Road and the east end of Audubon Terrace. Shots 6 through 10 will start where IPR left off – near the end of Audubon Terrace – and end near the Soapstone trail entrance on Albemarle Street. Officials said a rough schedule of the CIPP work would be released in two to three weeks.
Shots 6 and 10 are marked in pink. Not pictured: Shots 7-9. (Click to view a larger version.)
DC Water also said stream rebuilding work closest to Connecticut Avenue (Site 1 on the first map) was 95 percent complete as of June 20th.
“Customers will notice a major reduction in noise [at the Connecticut Avenue site] stemming from boulder delivery and hauling,” said DC Water in the emailed June 14th project update. This aspect of the Soapstone sewer rehabilitation project aims to protect the sewer infrastructure from erosion and damage, and prevent sewage from leaking. The stream rehabilitation and fortifying work has since moved to Site 4. DC Water’s schedule has that work complete and Site 5 under way the week of July 3rd.
Finally, when Soapstone Valley Park closed for the project in March 2022, DC Water predicted an October 2023 completion date. Asked during the ANC 3F meeting for the current target date, DC Water project director Peter Tinubu said the project will likely be complete next spring.
Green Eyeshades says
These are important paragraphs in the main blogpost:
“The first section, marked above by the yellow dotted line, underwent the CIPP treatment from mid-March to approximately mid-April. The final inspections and acceptance of the CIPP work in that section, as well as manhole repairs, kept the project from moving on to the next segment as quickly as previously projected. (In April, DC Water said May for the next CIPP work. In May, it said June.)
“That acceptance, announced in a June 14th email update, and the completion of the manhole work allowed DC Water’s contractor, IPR, to dismantle the bypass that cleared the sewage from the first section of the sewer pipe. The bypass system is now being moved and reassembled for the next phase.” [snip]
It seems odd that DC Water disclosed its “acceptance of the CIPP work” on June 14, but did not mention that acceptance during its presentation to ANC3F on June 20. It is more than odd, however, that DC Water has still failed to disclose the lab test reports for Shot Three, Shot Four and Shot Five.
DC Water has only revealed the lab test reports for Shot One and Shot Two, which were performed on March 14 and March 16, more than three months ago:
https://www.dcwater.com/projects/soapstone_sewer
Why is DC Water dragging its feet on disclosing lab test reports for the Shot Three, Shot Four and Shot Five? The main blogpost states that those last three Shots were completed by “mid-April,” in other words more than two months ago. Yet there are zero disclosures about the lab tests done on air quality samples taken for Shot Three, Shot Four and Shot Five. Something is fishy.
Green Eyeshades says
It is now the end of July, more than three and one-half months since Shot Three, Shot Four and Shot Five were completed. The main blogpost reported on June 28 that those three shots were completed by “mid-April.”
DC Water finally disclosed on June 14 that it had accepted its contractors’ work on Shots Three, Four and Five, according to the main blogpost. We don’t know when DC Water actually granted its “acceptance.” Even so, it has been at least six weeks since DC Water accepted its contractors’ work on CIPP Shots Three, Four and Five.
Three and one-half months since Shots Three, Four and Five were performed, and six weeks since DC Water admitted it had accepted those Shots, DC Water has still failed to disclose the laboratory test results on the air quality samples that it was obligated to take during those last three Shots.
What is DC Water covering up? They didn’t mention those laboratory test results at the July 18 ANC3F meeting. They still have not posted anything new about the toxic volatile organic compounds detected in those Shots on their project website:
https://www.dcwater.com/projects/soapstone_sewer
And, of course, ANC3F still has no website to give us answers to our questions.
Green Eyeshades says
At 12:40 pm today, August first, DC Water sent out an email update about the Soapstone Project, with their usual word salad about their “schedule” for resuming CIPP relining of the sewer pipe.
At the end of the email, DC Water made this shocking admission:
“Additionally, our experts (IPR and AECOM) have investigated why traces of styrene are being detected in air sampling results, and possible corrective actions to be taken to address this matter. DC Water will make these experts available at our proposed August virtual community meeting to address this issue and answer your questions regarding this subject.”
But, of course, DC Water has still refused to post on its project website the actual lab test results for Shot Three, Shot Four and Shot Five, which were finished more than three and one-half months ago, and accepted by DC Water at least six weeks ago.