AMERICAN’s Earthquake Joint System Delivers for Everett, Washington

The city of Everett, Washington, completed two separate installation projects using 12-inch AMERICAN Ductile Iron Pipe with earthquake resistant pipe joints.
The city of Everett, Washington, completed two separate installation projects using 12-inch AMERICAN Ductile Iron Pipe with earthquake resistant pipe joints.

This story also appeared in a special West Coast Natural Disasters Prep and Recovery issue of Engineering News-Record. See the story on page 34/13.

Located 25 miles north of Seattle, Everett, Washington, is home to more than 110,000 residents. Everett is also located along the Cascadia fault line, which makes the city more susceptible to a massive earthquake. When the time came to replace some of its aging water distribution lines, the city took a precautionary approach, installing about 6,000 feet of 12-inch AMERICAN Ductile Iron Pipe with earthquake resistant pipe joints for two separate projects.

“Both of these areas were on our radar for replacement,” said Richard Hefti, Everett Public Works senior engineer. “Because of their location and use, we put in the Earthquake Joint System. Our goal is to ensure we can get drinking water to all the different corners of our city if an earthquake occurs.”

“Because of their location and use, we put in the Earthquake Joint System. Our goal is to ensure we can get drinking water to all the different corners of our city if an earthquake occurs.”           – Everett Public Works Senior Engineer Richard Hefti

Hefti said the city chose AMERICAN’s Earthquake Joint System because it was backed by Cornell University testing and met the city’s seismic demands. “AMERICAN sales and research engineers came up to conduct contractor training and were here during the early stages of installation to make sure things were put together correctly,” Hefti said. “They were very helpful. We did not have any issues and both lines are up and running now.”