Decker Construction in Lathrop, Missouri, has come a long way since its founding in 1988. Starting with just one employee and one backhoe, the company now specializes in water main projects and maintains roughly 20 different municipal water systems across northwest Missouri. Decker Construction handles the installation and repairs for each system — including emergency repairs.
48 hours to secure city’s water source
“We pride ourselves in having as quick of a response time as we can and usually respond to anything within a couple of hours,” says Decker Construction owner Tom Decker. “We’re on call 24/7, 365 days a year for leaks and other emergencies.”
In May of 2015, the company got an urgent call from Caldwell County Public Water Supply District (PWSD) 3, a municipal customer about an hour’s drive northeast of Kansas City. Weeks of heavy rain had caused Shoal Creek, near the small town of Kingston, to flood several times and had finally scoured out the embankments, washing out the existing 6-inch (15.2 cm) water main under the creek. More than 2,500 residents would be without water if the situation was not resolved within 48 hours, when the reserves in the water towers would be depleted.
Tough conditions
Decker Construction used horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to make the repairs, and the job was far from easy. The ground conditions were wet and varied. The soil went from silty loam to sticky clay to shale, making it challenging to steer and backream. The creek, which was normally 70 feet (21.3 m) wide, swelled to 140 feet (42.7 m) in width. The flooding kept the crews from getting close enough to the terrain to push a probe and analyze the ground conditions.
“Normally, if you were going to do a creek bore in low-water conditions, you’d have the ability to get down and push a probe to investigate the conditions,” says Rick Bogart, superintendent for Decker Construction. “This one was just a blind shot. We just had to figure out what we were encountering as we bored.”
With water more than 15 feet (4.6 m) deep, there was no way the crew could physically inspect the line. This meant making adjustments throughout the bore.
“We actually found a scour hole, so we had to pull back up and bore deeper,” says Bogart. “We knew we needed to avoid that hole, so we ultimately moved our drill to take a different angle on the bore.”
Limited access
In addition to the high waters, mud and heavy rain, Decker Construction had difficulty getting supplies and materials to the jobsite. There was a levee the crew had to go down to access the jobsite; they only had a dry area of about 200 square feet (18.6 m2) in which to set up the drill.
The rest of the surrounding area was covered in water. The crew used a skid loader and an ATV to transport materials to the drill site through trees and ditches using an ATV trail, which was very slick due to the rain.
“The side we set our drill up on was probably a quarter of a mile (402.3 m) off the road, and on the opposite side of the creek,” says Bogart. “So we had to bring material about a half mile (804.7 kg) down a slope.”
The right equipment for the job
Decker Construction used a Vermeer D36x50 Series II Navigator® horizontal directional drill to complete the job. The drill’s auto pullback features were extremely useful on this job, as they helped the crew keep the backream operation at a smooth, constant speed, and reduced operator fatigue. The crew also used the drill’s target mode to track the bore under and across the creek.
Quick thinking, drilling
The crew worked all day, through a torrential downpour, to install a 3-inch (7.6 cm) HDPE aerial crossing, creating a temporary water supply line for the district. Decker Construction ordered an 8-inch-diameter (20.3 cm) HDPE pipe to replace the failed 6-inch (15.2 cm) class 200 PVC line, but the creek flooded again three days later, washing out the aerial crossing before the new pipe arrived.
A few days later, when flood waters began to subside, the crew permanently replaced the line with 600 linear feet (182.9 m) of 8-inch (20.3 cm) HDPE DR-11, as originally planned. The 8-inch (20.3 cm) water main was installed about 10 feet (3 m) away from the temporary 3-inch (7.6 cm) water line. Despite the difficult conditions, Decker Construction accomplished the project in a timely manner and before the residents ran out of water.
“This was one of the most challenging jobs we’ve done,” Decker says. “But a properly sized Vermeer directional drill and an experienced, dedicated crew is a tough combination to beat.”
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