May 20, 2013

This week's headlines

Pipeline hits a snag

Hank Lohmeyer
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Photo by Hank Lohmeyer
Heavy equipment arrived in the small neighborhood atop Cory Bluff last Friday evening and began 24-hour operations to get the North Delta Irrigation tunnel project back on track.
Crews working to install irrigation pipeline in a partially collapsed tunnel under Cory Bench ran into unexpected problems last week.

A shackle and cable assembly attached to the four-foot-diameter pipeline which enabled equipment to pull it through the tunnel bore failed during operations last Wednesday.

The mishap left the project 300 to 400 feet short of completing the pipeline installation. More serious, the critical shackle and cable equipment was left buried 80 to 100 feet beneath the surface of Cory Bench with no way to access it through the collapsed tunnel bore.

The immediate solution was to begin a massive, round-the-clock earth moving project to excavate the buried equipment, open a section of the collapsed tunnel from above, and complete the installation.

On Friday evening, heavy equipment began arriving in the small neighborhood atop the west end of Cory Bench. Workers began earth moving work in a small area using a track hoe and two D8 Cats.

a03_pipeline2
Photo by Hank Lohmeyer
The pipeline that will carry water under Cory Bench and deliver it to North Delta Irrigation Company producers got stuck during installation last week. A massive earth moving project began over the weekend to excavate 80 to 100 feet from the surface and retrieve disabled equipment in the partially collapsed tunnel bore and finish the job. Shown is the final 300 to 400 feet of pipeline waiting to be pulled into the tunnel cavity.
Before last week's mishap, the pipeline work had succeeded installing pipeline through the 1,450-foot-long tunnel under four homes atop the bench, sparing property owners from having excavation work taking place on their home grounds.

The 174 members of the private North Delta Irrigation Company have been hoping the pipeline work would be completed by the first of June and begin delivering irrigation water from the Gunnison River. The pipeline project will be able to carry the company's 49.6 cfs.

According to the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the pipeline installation work was approved for up to $1.6 million in grant/loan funding before the earth work began last week.

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Category: Delta Area