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Chapter 10.36
Gas Transmission and DistributionSections:
10.36.010 In General.
10.36.020 Street Obstruction Permit.
10.36.030 Definitions.
10.36.040 General Specifications.
10.36.050 Insurance Required.
10.36.060 Increasing Pressure.
10.36.070 Trench Excavation.
10.36.080 Trench Water.
10.36.090 Breaking Pavement.
10.36.100 Tunnels.
10.36.110 Protection of Utilities.
10.36.120 Protection of Abutting Property.
10.36.130 Public Improvements.
10.36.140 Fire Protection Facilities.
10.36.150 Activity within Easement.
10.36.160 Water Channels.
10.36.170 Traffic Control.
10.36.180 Excavated Material.
10.36.190 Pipe Material.
10.36.200 Connection to Steel Pipe.
10.36.210 Location of Gas Pipe.
10.36.220 Location of Shutoff.
10.36.230 Cathodic Protection of Pipes.
10.36.240 Testing.
10.36.250 Inspection.
10.36.260 Backfilling – Compaction.
10.36.270 Backfilling – Dry Method.
10.36.280 Backfilling – Wet Method.
10.36.010 In General.
A company constructing pipelines and other facilities for the transmission or distribution of gas fuel products must have a franchise from the City to occupy a public right-of-way. The performance standards, location, materials and methods of installation of gas transmission and distribution systems are subject to specification in such franchise, as well as by state and federal statute and regulation and the Uniform Mechanical Code (SMC chapter 11.08).
This chapter is intended to prescribe specifications and regulations for such systems to complement any such franchise.
10.36.020 Street Obstruction Permit.
In addition to a general franchise, a person must obtain a street obstruction permit for every occasion of construction, repair, or maintenance work within a public right-of-way.
[Ord. C15850 § 200]
10.36.030 Definitions.
A. “Distribution system” is any system of mains, pipes, service lines, regulators, meters, fixtures, connections and attachments used in the distribution of gas.
B. “Gas” is natural, manufactured, or mixed gas suitable for domestic or industrial fuel.
C. “Transmission system” is a system of pipelines installed to transmit gas from a source to one or more distribution centers, or a pipe installed to interconnect sources of supply.
[Ord. C15850 §§ 30,40,90]
10.36.040 General Specifications.
These are adopted as standards for gas installation in the city:
A. The “Rules and Regulations Pertaining to Matters of Public Safety in the Construction and Operation of Facilities for the Transmission and Distribution of Gas” of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission adopted in Consolidation Cause Nos. U-8799 and U-8800, as amended; and
B. The “Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline: Minimum Federal Safety Standards” (49 CRF, part 192), promulgated under P.L. 90-481.
[Ord. C15850 § 100]
10.36.050 Insurance Required.
Unless otherwise approved by the risk manager, a gas franchisee must maintain general liability insurance on the occurrence form with bodily injury and property damage limits of at least one million dollars combined single limit per occurrence and two million dollars general and products/completed operations aggregate and naming the City as additional insured.
[Ord. C29447; Passed: 7/3/1989]
10.36.060 Increasing Pressure.
No person may change an existing low-pressure system to a high-pressure system, or increase the pressure in a high-pressure system without first giving notice to the director of engineering services and following the procedures set forth in the adopted standard.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.070 Trench Excavation.
A. The excavator must leave at least thirty feet of completed trench ahead of the pipe laying operation, except at the closing terminus, but may not leave a greater length of trench open than necessary to accommodate the length of pipe at hand ready to be put in place, and in no event more than three hundred feet.
B. The excavator must dig the trench at least twelve inches wider than the exterior dimension of the pipe, unless the pipe is four inches wider than the outsides of manholes and other structures.
C. The excavator must dig any part of a trench in a rock formation to a depth sufficient to allow six inches of bedding below the pipe and six inches of fill above the pipe.
D. The excavator must brace excavations in accordance with current federal and state safety standards for such construction work.
[Ord. C15850 § 350]
10.36.080 Trench Water.
Except when doing approved backfilling by water settling, the excavator must keep all trenches free of water by whatever method approved by the director of engineering services.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.090 Breaking Pavement.
Whenever installation of gas facilities requires excavation of existing pavement, the excavator must:
A. score or otherwise cut asphalt pavement in a straight line and, using a concrete saw, cut a sufficient kerf to allow complete breakage of the pavement and base without ragged edges;
B. make pavement cuts as vertical as possible;
C. entirely remove the pavement to expose at least six-inch shoulders of undisturbed subgrade material, unless otherwise directed by the director of engineering services.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.100 Tunnels.
Unless the director of public works authorizes it in a specific case, no gas franchisee may install pipe by tunneling or boring under the pavement of any public way. When authorized, in addition to such specific conditions as the director may impose, the franchisee must drive the pipe through sufficient casing and leave such casing in place with the ends closed around the pipe.
[Ord. C15850 § 380]
10.36.110 Protection of Utilities.
A. Every franchisee is responsible for ascertaining the existence and location of all public and private utility facilities and for taking whatever steps may be necessary to protect utilities from damage, disruption, or interference.
B. A gas franchisee must give prior notice to and receive the approval of the affected utility before moving, relocating, or taking measures to protect existing utility lines.
C. Should construction or repair activity by a gas franchisee damage any existing public or private utility equipment, the affected utility may either require repair to be done by the gas franchisee or do its own repair at the expense of the gas franchisee.
[Ord. C15850 § 330]
10.36.120 Protection of Abutting Property.
A. The excavator is required to shore or otherwise protect buildings, walls, fences, and other property endangered by construction work.
B. When excavating lawn area, the excavator is required to cut and roll the sod so it can be replaced after the trench is filled so as to restore the lawn to its original condition as nearly as possible.
C. A person may not remove any trees or shrubbery in planting strips or other easements without notifying the abutting property owner, or, in the case of park land, the director of parks and recreation.
[Ord. C15850 § 420]
10.36.130 Public Improvements.
A. Whenever any part of a gas distribution or transmission system interferes with the construction of a public improvement, the director of engineering services engineering services may require the franchisee to move, at the franchisee’s cost, the interfering part.
B. The excavator may not remove or disturb any surface monuments or hubs without the permission of the director of engineering services.
C. The excavator is required to restore, using materials and methods in accordance with current specifications, any public improvements damaged or disturbed by gas system installation.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.140 Fire Protection Facilities.
A gas franchisee is required to plan and conduct its construction and maintenance activities so as to at all times leave free of obstruction access to fire hydrants, fire stations, fire escapes and other fire facilities.
[Ord. C15850 § 470]
10.36.150 Activity within Easement.
The excavator has the responsibility to verify the location of property lines and easements and to confine all construction and maintenance activity within those limits.
[Ord. C15850 § 450]
10.36.160 Water Channels.
A. The excavator must protect all sewer lines and drainage channels from damage and obstruction.
B. If gas installation work requires interruption of a sewer line, gutter, or other surface water channels, the excavator must, with the approval of the director of engineering services, provide alternative measures for the flow of any water or wastewater. The excavator must also repair or restore any sewer lines or other drainage facilities damaged or obstructed during gas installation.
C. The excavator must, with the approval of the director of engineering services, take measures to dispose of all surplus water, mud, silt, and other runoff from excavation.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.170 Traffic Control.
A. Unless the director of engineering services allows a street to be closed for a period of time, the gas franchisee is required to conduct its excavation and other activities in such manner as will leave any public way open for vehicular travel. The director may require the franchisee to furnish signs and flagmen to direct traffic around the construction site.
B. When a detour is required, the franchisee must provide the detour in accordance with City specifications.
C. The franchisee is required to confine excavated material within barriers so as to minimize obstruction of the public way adjacent to the excavation.
D. The franchisee must construct and maintain, at the direction of the director, suitable crossing for vehicular and pedestrian traffic over excavations.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.180 Excavated Material.
Normally, the excavator will pile excavated material adjacent to the trench with the toe of the slope at least eighteen inches from the edge of the trench. Whenever the limits of the excavation area are too narrow to allow for such piling alongside the trench, the director may require the franchisee to haul and store the excavated material off site.
[Ord. C15850 § 460]
10.36.190 Pipe Material.
Rubber pipe is prohibited. A franchisee may use plastic or other nonmetallic pipe to the extent and in the manner prescribed in the general specifications set forth in SMC 10.36.040.
[Ord. C15850 § 260]
10.36.200 Connection to Steel Pipe.
No person may connect a service line to a steel main by means of a clamp or saddle connector.
[Ord. C15850 § 270]
10.36.210 Location of Gas Pipe.
Subject to the direction of the director of engineering services in particular cases, every gas franchisee must comply with the following standards for the location of gas system piping:
A. Pipes are placed in alleys or utility easements;
B. Pipes are placed in the southerly or westerly side of alleys or streets;
C. Pipes have a lateral clearance of four feet from water mains and twelve inches from all other subsurface structures and a vertical clearance of twelve inches from another pipe;
D. Pipes have at least thirty inches of cover or, when in rock, twenty-four inches if properly cushioned;
E. Gas service lines do not occupy the same ditch with water service lines;
F. Pipe is laid in the center of the trench as nearly as possible to equalize the pressure load from backfilling.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.220 Location of Shutoff.
The franchisee must locate service shutoffs at the curb or property line, or at an easily accessible place on the outside of the building served.
[Ord. C15850 § 280]
10.36.230 Cathodic Protection of Pipes.
A. A gas franchisee must give notice and detailed plans showing the location of each component to the director of engineering services whenever pipes in a gas transmission or distribution system are made the cathode of one or more fields of electrical current or force in the earth and are electrically connected by insulated metallic conductors to anodes located at a distance from the protected pipes.
B. The franchisee must:
1. cause each pipeline which is a cathode to be connected by electrical bonds to all other underground metallic pipelines or structures located in the same street, alley or easement;
2. make such bond at each anode installed and in a location closer to that anode than any other anode;
3. make such bonds by metallic electrical conductors of sufficient mechanical strength to withstand burial, completely coated with a heavy, moisture-resistant, dielectric coating, and securely clamped, brazed, or welded to the interconnected pipes or structures.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.240 Testing.
Before putting any system or newly constructed part of a system in use, the franchisee must test the system in accordance with the adopted specifications and under the supervision of the director of engineering services.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.250 Inspection.
Before putting any system or newly constructed part of a system in use, the franchisee must arrange for inspection by the director of engineering services.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.260 Backfilling – Compaction.
The excavator must compact backfill to a degree equivalent to the original undisturbed ground in which the trench was dug. The excavator may select, based upon the character of the soil, to compact by mechanical tampers or vibrators, by rolling in layers, or by water settling, except that water settling requires the approval of the director of engineering services.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
10.36.270 Backfilling – Dry Method.
A. The franchisee must insure that backfilling up to the first eighteen inches above the top of the pipe or other installation be done in thin layers, not more than four inches thick when manually tamped, and six inches when mechanically tamped, each layer to be thoroughly tamped.
B. The franchisee must backfill around pipes over twenty-four inches in diameter in three-inch layers, each moistened and mechanically tamped up to the spring line of the pipe.
[Ord. C15850 § 400]
10.36.280 Backfilling – Wet Method.
A. The franchisee must furnish sufficient hose to apply water to trench at one-hundred foot or smaller intervals.
B. The franchisee may not utilize fire hydrants except by prior arrangement with the director of water and hydroelectric services.
C. The franchisee must deposit uniform layers of backfill material not to exceed five feet in thickness and must thoroughly flood each layer, must cause the water to flow slowly to the trench from high points, and must cause the water to be worked down to the bottom of the layer with bars. Each worker must allow water to flow down around the bar as it is withdrawn and to keep the hole formed by the bar open with water running in until the fill is settled.
[Ord. C32762; Passed: 12/11/2000]
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