Connections

Issue 2 • Volume 3 • April 10

PROJECTS

LS Jensen Construction & Ready Mix Replaces 100-Year-Old Irrigation Siphon
By CJ Beardsley, project coordinator

A Little Giant Steam Shovel digs a big ditch on east side of the valley. (Thank goodness for progress!)

Photo courtesy of the Bitterroot Historical Society

On Oct. 5, 2009, LS Jensen Construction & Ready Mix (LSJ) entered into a contract with the Bitter Root Irrigation District to install 560 linear feet of 72-inch steel pipe siphon and associated improvements for the Siphon 1 – Phase 1 Replacement Project North of Darby, Mont. The original request for proposal included an additional 350 feet of 66-inch steel pipe and associated improvements, which was deleted from the contract due to lack of funding.

The project is being funded through a Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) loan and a DNRC American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant with matching funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The irrigation district's history has been continually plagued by lack of funding, causing serious financial troubles including bankruptcy in 1916. As a result, contractors over time have been affected, and this project was no different. The irrigation district scrambled to collect 60 percent of its water users' signatures by July 31, 2009, to unlock the federal contributions and authorize the loan of state funds for only the 72-inch pipe.

Brad Riley is the LSJ superintendent responsible for crew and subcontractor productivity, maintaining schedule, safety and quality control. Thank you Brad.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation, construction standards were not as high in the early 1900s as they are today. Ultimately the irrigation system's concrete structures – the 70 miles of canals and the mile-long irrigation siphon pipes – are suffering, jeopardizing structural integrity and potentially causing a total loss of water for 1,375 irrigators on the 16,665 irrigable acres. This also includes possible damage to the river system wetlands and the adjacent U.S. Highway 93. LSJ's phase one scope of work includes replacing the intake structure and the 72-inch steel pipe. Crews demolished the existing intake structure and siphon last year, and the new intake and siphon is still in progress.

It was not until Dec. 10, 2009, that LSJ was notified that the remaining funds for the 66-inch steel pipe had been approved, but by this time valuable production time was lost, not to mention the rescheduling of crews, equipment and subcontractors. Even the best planned projects can suffer due to unforeseeable conditions and since the project bid was to place the pipe from the bottom up and the 66-inch pipe was at the bottom, pipe installation was postponed until approval was received. At this point two months had passed.

With liquidated damages for this project at the rate of $4,000 per each calendar day after Mar. 15, 2010, (rate based on lack of supplying irrigation water to more than 16,500 acres of cropland – potentially crippling the local economy), the construction team had no time to waste. To date the project is back on schedule because of due diligence, hard work and the ingenuity of our management team and field personnel.

Crews are carefully taking the pipe to its final resting place in this snapshot from the bottom of the steep slope.

LSJ's success is attributed to our "unsung heroes" in the field adapting, improvising and overcoming the difficult challenges this project has presented. Every year miles of pipe are installed, only this time it involved some seriously steep terrain, a 1.5H: 1V slope for a portion of the project, the remaining portion with 3H: 1V and 4H: 1V slopes. The elevation difference from the inlet structure to the connection at the bottom of the hillside is 260 feet. As a result, getting the pipe there took some creativity, and it's going to take a lot more than that to stop our talented, innovative field personnel from finding a solution to any problem because we are completing the project safely and within budget.

After a recent site visit, Stan Dugdale, LSJ vice president, congratulated the crews on a great job keeping safe and making sure that the equipment is used properly. To date, our crews have worked without incident despite the potential risks of steep slopes, winter conditions and pipe weights ranging upward to 12,450 pounds.

There are a total of five phases, and LSJ hopes to acquire the remaining four phases and continue to be a part of the Bitter Root Valley Community history.

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