New earthquake-resilient water pipes ‘surpassed expectations’ in testing

By Michael Grass, Executive Editor

When the next large earthquake hits Southern California, or any other major U.S. city, among the biggest worries for emergency managers and intergovernmental leaders is whether infrastructure for water and sewage will be able to ride out intense levels of shaking and ground deformation.

In the greater Los Angeles area, these worries aren’t just limited to water pipes under the streets, but also the aqueducts that carry water across the San Andreas Fault—the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates—and through other seismically vulnerable areas.   

The 7,000 miles of water-delivery infrastructure in Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city, crosses 30 different fault lines and the task to repair—or in some cases, completely rebuild—pipelines and water mains following a major quake will be immense. The same goes for the pipes that carry away wastewater for processing.