SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio has about 800 miles of storm drain pipe. Roughly 6% of it is made from a material the city now bans.
The Trouble Shooters show you how crews are being proactive to make sure those pipes don’t cause problems in your neighborhood.
Let’s face it: who hasn’t been annoyed when workers shut down a lane of traffic? Well, you might be more patient if you knew what they’re up to while cars drive past them.
“We're doing a good thing here by making sure these storm water pipes don't fail,” says Public Works Department spokesperson Paul Berry.
He explains a storm water division crew, with the help of a roving camera, is heading underground.
“Going forward!” a crew member shouts as the camera moves through a drainage pipe that runs below Alamo Ranch Parkway.
The pipe is made of corrugated metal, a material the city’s now banned from being used underneath roads.
“Over time, it begins to disintegrate because water stands in there and the bottom fails, or more of the pipe fails,” Berry says.
But 48 miles of corrugated metal pipe are still running through San Antonio. Berry says about half of it is in danger of failing.
“We're finding the corrugated metal pipe that is failing mainly inside of Loop 410. And that's because when that pipe was put in 50, 60, 70 years ago, that's where San Antonio was,” Berry says, noting the material is less common in newer parts of the city.
Crews showed us a piece of an older pipe as an example of what they’re watching for: it’s breaking apart and rusted to the point of failure.
If crews didn’t take action, a disintegrating corrugated metal pipe could cause drainage problems for neighborhoods and even sinkholes in the road.
A screen inside the workers’ truck shows what the camera is seeing in real time.
“For the most part, looking at the bottom of it,” a crew member explains as we watch to see the pipe’s condition.
If a pipe’s in good shape, crews keep an eye on it. If it looks like it’s failing, they reinforce it with concrete.
“We are going in and we are spraying concrete on the inside of these failed pipes,” Berry says. “And that concrete adheres to the walls, and that pipe is now good for another 50 years, if not even longer.”
Two million dollars are set aside in this year’s city budget to rehabilitate corrugated metal pipes.
“If it's dry, that means it's doing its job. It's flowing the way it's supposed to flow,” says the crew member watching the screen.
The camera footage shows the pipe withstood recent rain.
“They did a really good job on this one,” the crew member says.
The team packs up and reopens traffic on Alamo Ranch Parkway with peace of mind the pipe underneath is standing strong.
By EMILY BAUCUM
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