Syblon Reid Construction
Providing Solutions to difficult Projects

Wente Vineyard Slide

One of our clients called on Syblon Reid to assist with an emergency pipeline repair at the Wente Golf Course and Restaurant in Livermore.  The pipe had begun to show signs of leakage earlier that day and when the first SRC personnel arrived on site at 5:30 that night, the hill side that the pipe was ascending had given way.  A portion of the hillside along with 140 feet of the pipe slid down and partially filled the golf course and 5 star restaurant parking lot knee deep with mud.  SRC mobilized personnel and equipment onsite the next morning to begin cleaning the parking lot so that the business could reopen as soon as possible.

After initial clean up was complete, SRC assessed the slide, the damaged pipe, and the 60' tall surge tower on top of the hill that the pipeline ascended to.  It was determined that the following would need to be done to get the system operational again and ensure that the aging system had no other issues:

  • Inspect 6000 feet of existing pipe for damage
  • Remove all unsuitable material from the slide and rebuild the hill side with engineered fill
  • Replace all 300 feet of 60" pipe on the west face of the slope and encase it in concrete
  • Remove and replace 120 feet of pipe at the top of the hill along with a tee that connects the pipe line to the surge tower
  • Remove the existing 60" butterfly valve that shuts off water flow to the surge tower, have it rebuilt, and reinstall it in a new valve vault
  • Encase in concrete 100 feet of existing pipe below the slide on the west side of the hill
  • Encase in concrete 300 feet of existing 60 year old pipe in place on the east side of the hill
  • And disassemble the existing surge tower, remove the existing foundation, place a new 700 yard foundation further from the face of the hill, and rebuild the surge tower adding an additional 10' in total height

Challenges in the project included:

  • An accelerated schedule in order to get the pipe line back in operation so the Del Valle Reservoir could be utilized
  • Building a project while assisting with design
  • Hazardous conditions, environmental concerns, and inefficiencies related to working during the wet season
  • Installing 60" pipe on a slope up to 45% with a flow line 15-35 feet below sub grade
  • Encasing existing 60 year old, 60" Pre-stressed concrete pipe that was 15 feet from flow line to the existing grade on a slope up to 45%

Due to a great working relationship between the client and Syblon Reid, we were able to get all parts of the system back in working order by the specified dates to meet the critical discharge needs.

Project Photos

Click on a thumbnail to view slideshow