HDPE Provides Answer For Gate Repair

By Tyler Henning

If there is a state that knows a thing or two about water, it's Florida. The state contends with hurricanes that dump heavy rainfalls in short amounts of time, two massive coastlines, world-famous beaches, the Everglades and many canals.

With so much water as part of everyday life, naturally some manmade water management comes into play. Recently, the South Florida Water Management District called upon Moving Water Industries (MWI) and HD Supply to use their expertise to move the water in a subbasin to a manageable level in order to repair an eroded flood gate. The Osceola County flood gate's base was originally 12 inches of cement, but the water had eroded the concrete to 8 inches.

Polyethylene pipe turned out to be the perfect solution for the repair. Four lines of 42-inch SDR 26 pipe were fused together and connected to MWI's pumps with flanges and bolts. Each pump moves approximately 40,000 gallons per minute, with the hope of moving a maximum of 185,000 gallons per minute across the four pipes and pumps.