We were laying 96” CSC waterline up in the south part of Dallas several years ago. We came up out of the Trinity River Bottoms with the line, across an old dump area. Not a trash dump, but low lands that had soils dump there) We were making several hundred feet a day.

While going through that bad stretch of ground, it called for the rubber o-ring joints to also be welded on the inside and outside. We used a special neoprene gasket that didn’t burn like regular rubber gaskets would allowing for three protections against leaking.

That forced us to leave more pipe uncovered than we really wanted to, but there are times when you do what you gotta do to get a job done. The joints were 16’ long so we had room to put some gravel on each joint, leaving it where we could dig bell holes for the welders as they got to them.

To insure that we didn’t have a buoyancy issue we would leave the nightcap (temporary plug) sitting in the end pipe, loose, with no gasket. We would pile large aggregate over the end of the pipe and plug to protect it and keep the plug in place.

One Friday evening as we were getting ready to leave for the night, with almost everyone already gone the inspector showed up and saw that the guys were leaving the gasket off the night cap. He instructed them to be sure to seal up the pipe, as there was a good chance of rain coming.

The hands did as was instructed.

That weekend a huge flood came. The whole area became a lake. The trapped air inside that long string of pipe caused several hundred feet of 96” water line to rise up out of the ditch. Once it had floated out the joints became disjointed and they popped apart.

The problem came with the joints that had already been welded. Those areas were twisted and crumpled with the pipe being destroyed.

The final toll was the remanufacturing of about 20 joints of pipe and the entire length of 600’ plus feet had to be backfilled after the good pipe was salvaged and the area dried out, we relayed it and continued on to the EOL. (End of Line)

Some days in the underground business are great, the smell of fresh first being dug, knowing you are obtaining better production than you ever thought possible. But some days aren’t so sweet, like seeing a large string of 96” pipe that float right up out of the ditch.

We had a meeting with the Dallas Water Utility officials to explain what happened. We told them about the inspector requiring the workmen to put a gasket on the nightcap to seal off the line.

They stood by their Inspector saying it is in the specifications to not allow any water to enter the inside of the pipe being installed.

That my fiends is one reason that I’m proud to say in 2024 that I’m officially retired after 52 years in the Underground Utility Business.