Renewal of Potable Water Systems Using Cement Mortar Lining; an Investigation into Corrosion Reduction and Water-loss Prevention

Abstract

Many Canadian cities are faced with the problem of an aging and deteriorating iron water distribution network - pipe breaks, leakage, and/or aesthetic water quality problems. Public confidence in municipalities’ ability to deliver safe, clean drinking water to customers has been eroded, especially in areas of water distribution networks receiving coloured water events that result from the internal corrosion of aging iron watermains. Cement mortar lining is one of the most widely used non-structural watermain rehabilitation methods for the prevention of coloured water events due to internal iron pipe corrosion; however, it is also thought/claimed to be a means of controlling corrosion pin-hole leakage.

This thesis presents the results of a laboratory testing program designed to investigate the renewal of potable watermains via the use of cement mortar lining. The specific focus of this thesis is the ability of the cement mortar lining to bridge corrosion pin-holes and prevent water loss from the watermain, and the effects of mortar application on the corrosion protection provided to the iron watermain by cement mortar lining. The results of this study are based on short term testing and do not consider fatigue.

The ability to bridge corrosion pin-holes / water loss prevention laboratory testing program found that pressure should not be returned to a newly lined watermain until the lining has cured for a period of at least four days to prevent failures from occurring prior to the lining achieving sufficient strength characteristics if the lining is to be used as a structural rehabilitation technique. The cure time corrected normalized thickness at failure data was found to be a Gumbel distributed data set. The Gumbel distribution can be used to predict the lining thickness required to bridge a known corrosion pin-hole diameter with a set degree of confidence that failure will not occur. A 3 mm thick cement mortar lining can bridge a pin-hole 12.0 mm in diameter while a 5mm thick cement mortar lining can bridge a pin-hole 19.9 mm in diameter with a 95% probability that failure will not occur

Through the corrosion prevention testing program it was determined that the thickness of the cement mortar lining does not affect the ability of the lining to prevent corrosion from occurring. This was determined for cast iron pipes which have been lined for a period of one year. It is recommended that corrosion potential testing be performed on cement mortar lined watermains that have been in service for a longer period of time to determine if this consistent over the life cycle of the cement mortar lined watermain.