Pioneering Pipe 106

A few years from now it might be difficult to differentiate Pipe 106 from all the components of the Hetch Hetchy Water System.  After all, the 50-foot pipe is a relatively small piece of the complex series of reservoirs, tunnels, pipelines and treatment systems that deliver drinking water from Yosemite National Park to the San Francisco Bay Area.

So what’s so special about Pipe 106? Last week it was the first steel pipe section to enter the New Irvington Tunnel! Check it out!

It’s just like Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon right? Okay, not quite. But here at the New Irvington Tunnel we think it’s pretty exciting.

Standing alone at 102-inches (8.5-feet) in diameter, Pipe 106 was the first of 373 50-foot sections that will eventually carry drinking water to 2.6 million Bay Area residents.  Crews loaded the pipe onto a custom-made carrier that traveled just over 4,200 feet from the tunnel portal to its final position underground.  As a pioneer, Pipe 106 led the way for over 1,700 feet of pipe to enter the tunnel to date.

So on a hot summer day in the not so distant future when you reach for that glass of drinking water, remember Pioneering Pipe 106!