HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 13922
City of Palo Alto (ID # 13922)
City Council Staff Report
Meeting Date: 6/13/2022 Report Type: Information Reports
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Title: Informational Report on the City of Palo Alto 2022 Water Gas and
Wastewater Utility Standards
From: City Manager
Lead Department: Utilities
This is an informational report and no Council action is required.
Background
The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) Department’s Water, Gas, and Wastewater (WGW)
Engineering Division implements standard design and construction specifications for water, gas,
and wastewater facilities in the public right-of-way and for CPAU-owned facilities on private
property. These standards ensure that utility infrastructure is constructed and maintained in a
safe, uniform, and reliable manner. The WGW Utility Standards include installation
requirements, material specifications, and standardized configurations.
Discussion
CPAU Engineering staff updates the WGW Utility Standards periodically and last issued revisions
in 2021. This 2022 edition reflects current construction material availability, and incorporates
up to date field practices, contract management, as well as other non-substantial technical
editing (Linked Document). A summary of the more significant revisions to the 2022 WGW
Utility Standards is provided below, and all edits are shown in redline form (Linked Document):
• Reworded some phrasing and added new language to increase clarity of standards and
requirements (in various Sections).
• Included additional language to clarify Contractor’s responsibilities on construction
projects to help City manage capital improvement project (CIP) contracts (in various
Sections).
• Clarified those capitalized terms not defined in the Standards have the same meaning
provided in the City’s General Conditions (Section 800).
• Clarified contractor’s submittal, pre-construction meeting, and scheduling requirements
(Section 800).
• Rearranged a few sections to make the sequence flow better (Section 800).
• Updated the website link to City’s Traffic Control Requirements (Section 800).
• Updated information on the City’s Certificate of Liability Insurance requirement and the
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permit expiration date for Recycle Water Use Permits (Section 870).
• Strengthened the requirements for contractors to investigate sewer lateral locations
prior to boring gas pipe and to make multiple attempts when inspecting the sewer
laterals for potential cross bores after the gas pipe is installed by trenchless methods
(Section 2200).
• Clarified the shelf-life requirements for polyethylene pipe (Section 2300, 2400, and
2500).
• Added maximum allowable pull force for wastewater pipe-bursting operation (Section
2300).
• Updated the hardware and appurtenances for water mains based on current market
availability (Sections 2660).
• Added the procedures to disconnect large diameter water services (Section 2660).
• Revised the gas pipe specification per current manufacturer’s material index (Section
2685).
• Revised the operator qualification requirements for gas pipe operations (Section 2685).
• Clarified the requirements for temporary sewer lateral connections and flow bypass
(Section 2730).
• Updated the sewer lateral connection requirements (Section 2735).
• Strengthened various requirements for sewer lateral cross bore inspections (Section
2741).
The 2022 City of Palo Alto Water Gas and Wastewater Utility Standards are available on the
City’s Utility Engineering website at www.cityofpaloalto.org/gov/depts/utl/eng/standards.asp.