A massive water infrastructure overhaul currently taking place in the Indiana city of Martinsville is using horizontal directional drilling and CertainTeed Certa-Lok C900/RJ PVC pipe to minimize disruption to residential areas and farmland.

The 21,000-foot project involves replacing old cast iron potable water pipes with 12-inch Certa-Lok C900/RJ, a restrained-joint PVC pipe, and connecting the community’s rural homes with the City of Martinsville water supply. The City hired engineering firm Bonar Group, based in Fort Wayne, Ind., to design the new system, with on-site support from Holloway Engineering of Mooresville, Ind. Although a large portion of the water lines goes through farmland, there were concerns that an open-trench pipe installation would disturb farmers’ planting and harvesting, in addition to disrupting residential areas and local traffic. As a result, Bonar Group called for the pipe to be installed via the trenchless method of directional drilling.

“It’s pretty unusual for us to do such a large amount of directional drilling in one project,” says Jeff DeWitt, P.E., project engineer for Bonar Group. “In this project, we decided to use it for the full 21,000 feet because we were in tight areas, and we didn’t want to disturb roads or utilities.”

 “The City was already familiar with PVC pipe, so this is an easy transition for them,” DeWitt says. “With Certa-Lok pipe, they won’t have to purchase and stock new equipment and fittings to service the new pipe system, as they would with other pipe materials.”

Certa-Lok C900/RJ is a PVC product suitable for both water and wastewater applications. Its joining system, which utilizes a high-strength spline to connect pipe lengths, holds the pipe together during installation and pressurization, while elastomeric O-rings provide a dependable pressure seal. Twenty-foot pipe lengths can be assembled as pullback continues or preassembled into a longer string of pipe, whenever space allows.

About Certa-Lok’s performance, Steve Gross, director of marketing for CertainTeed’s Pipe business, says, “For the contractor, the pipe is easily assembled, without the need for time-consuming and expensive joint fusion. And, most importantly, Certa-Lok requires a much thinner wall than HDPE pipe for an equivalent pressure rating, which significantly cuts material, drilling and operating costs.”

The City of Martinsville hired contractor Infrastructure Systems Inc. (ISI), Orleans, Ind., to install the pipe, with a crew of four and a Vermeer 33x44 directional drill. ISI began work in April, after finishing a 4,500-foot potable water installation of 8-inch and 10-inch Certa-Lok C900/RJ pipe in downtown Martinsville. The job, expected to complete by the end of the year, has run fairly smoothly, despite delays caused in March by a tornado, and in June by flooding from the nearby White River.

 “The job has been relatively easy, considering the weather-related obstacles,” says Marty Goldman, project superintendent for ISI. “We’ve had good support from the City of Martinsville and our engineering firm. For what the city’s been through in the past few months, they’ve been more than cooperative. They’ve been through enough natural disasters to last them a while.”