Civil Engineer BLOG

I have been a practising Civil Engineer for 12 years and i came across a new situation today.  Had client call and they were having copper service laterals corroding to the point of failure on a couple projects.  These laterals were connected to a C-900 plastic water line.  They were failing on the live side of the corp stop.

A little back ground information.  The laterals were dormant laterals in a new development.  They are less than 5 years old.   The live laterals, the ones currently serving a dwelling, are not having these issues.  They have had this issue in two different municipalities.  They have had the copper tested by an independent firm and it has been deemed that the copper is an adequate quality.

The copper is corroding from the outside in.  starts as a pin hole and gets larger until the leak is evident at the surface.  The project were installed by different excavating contractors and both are reputable.

If you need any additional information let me know.

Any ideas as to what may be causing this situation?  Anyone have any experience in dealing with this sort of issue?  How would you prevent it?

Your help is appreciated, as i am stumped!

Andy