Why we need 16-inch pipelines.

By Jim Larimer

Sixteen inch pipelines will give us safe fire flows and save ratepayer's costs.

We can all understand a simple analogy. After you finish a bath and remove the drain plug the water in the tub drains out uniformly. The height of the water in the tub goes down equally at both ends of the bathtub regardless of which end has the drain. If, however, the tub had a barrier in the middle and a very small hole in the barrier wall, the water will not drain uniformly. When the drain plug is removed the end with the drain will empty much faster. The barrier will prevent the water from draining uniformly from both ends of the tub.

Two water storage tanks, for example, the tanks in El Granada and in Miramar, are like the two ends of the bathtub. The El Granada Transmission Pipeline is like the barrier with the hole in it. If the pipeline is big in diameter, then the barrier will not affect the flow between the two tanks and they will empty at the same rate.

Today, the 54 year-old El Granada pipeline connecting the El Granada and Miramar water storage tanks is too small. The tanks will not drain uniformly when a fire hydrant is opened somewhere in the system. This is bad because we may need the water from both tanks to put out a fire. This is why three independent licensed professional hydraulic engineering firms have all recommended that we use 16-inch pipelines. It is just commonsense to follow their advice and good engineering practice too. This will make our system safer and cheaper to run, which will also have the benefit of saving ratepayer's money.

These pipeline improvements are already paid for, the money is in the bank. We should use 16-inch pipelines to replace 54-year old pipe that is well beyond its service life. This will make our community safer and save money too.