Leon, Luis

Mr Leon has over 39 years of experience; he has a wealth of knowledge and proficiency in engineering and management, both in the United States and internationally. His primary areas of expertise encompass master planning, feasibility studies, asset management, and design. Luis has a comprehensive background in developing plans, specifications, and estimates, securing permits, and overseeing the construction management of various public and private infrastructure projects. His portfolio includes a diverse range of endeavors, such as wastewater collection systems, water distribution facilities, storm drainage, transportation systems, and land development. His specialization extends to pipeline condition assessment and the innovative application of trenchless technologies in the design and rehabilitation of pipelines.

Titles from this speaker

From Zero to 100 Miles in Less than Four Years

Abstract

The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD or Districts) own, operate, and maintain a regional wastewater collection system, which includes approximately 1,400 miles of sanitary sewers ranging in diameter from 8 to 144 inches, 48 pumping plants, and 11 wastewater treatment plants that transport and treat about half the wastewater in Los Angeles County. The Sewer Design Section is responsible for the design of sewer rehabilitation and new sewer construction projects. In 2021, LACSD embarked on an aggressive program to rehabilitate approximately 100 miles of existing trunk sewers that were originally constructed between the 1940s and early 1960s using non-reinforced concrete pipe (NRCP). This paper and presentation describe LACSD's Program for Rehabilitation of NRCP sewer pipelines, including implementation of innovative technologies to ensure timely completion of these vital infrastructure projects, including using the following: *An innovative application of automated defect recognition (ADR) software to assess sewer condition. *Modification and fast-tracking of design processes using a flexible architecture that allows the Districts to manage their business processes and workflows. *A smart project efficiency and collaboration solution that allows creation, editing, mark up, organizing PDFs with project partners on desktop, and secure collaboration in real time with team members anywhere in the world; and *A software solution to allow District staff, consultants, construction managers, contractors and other stakeholders secured access and streamlined review and approval of RFIs and submittal. Need for accelerated design and bid documents - In December 2021, a large sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) occurred from a Districts' sewer in the City of Carson. A subsequent audit of the SSO recommended the Districts to streamline the sewer rehabilitation process and increase productivity of the capital projects. The Districts decided to develop an Accelerated Design Program to fast-track its standard design procedures and utilize its on-call consultants to perform the engineering design, prepare construction bid documents, and provide engineering support during construction. Condition assessment of existing sewers using ADR - Sewer systems in the U.S. are in a fair to poor condition, with many experiencing collapses and other problems due to structural and operational issues. As a result, there is a need to rehabilitate or replace aging infrastructure. Current practices in sewer condition assessment, using closed-circuit television (CCTV) inspection, can be subjective, inconsistent, and resourceful leading to false decisions and improper allocation of intervention budgets. Several utilities annually inspect 10% to 15% of sewer total length using the CCTV camera, where recorded videos are assessed using a national or local standard (e.g., NASSCO PACP(R)). The team used PipeInsights to expedite the condition assessment process. Figures 1 and 2 show screens of the ADR software; Figure 4 shows a table of significant defects developed from the ADR. Design Process - As these projects needed to be expedited, LACSD decided to implement a streamlined design process that was documented in LACSD's Design Guidelines for Consultant-Designed CIPP Sewer Repair Projects. The guidelines included 50%, 90% and 100% design documents. A sample plan and profile drawing is shown in Figure 5 and a sample Plan view in Figure 6. Rehabilitation Design - CIPP lining was the selected rehabilitation method for this project. CIPP is less costly and less disruptive to nearby residents and businesses than replacement or other rehabilitation methods. This trenchless pipeline rehabilitation method involves installing a liner composed of resin-saturated felt within a deteriorated pipe that when cured is both watertight and can be engineered to be a fully structural liner independent of the host pipe or designed as a nonstructural liner, depending on the integrity of the host pipe. A figure of the LACSD spreadsheet is shown in Figure 7. Design Reviews - Reviews by LACSD were conducted by LACSD at all stages of the projects, in an expedited manner. The maximum amount of time allocated by LACSD for their reviews was two weeks. Review comments were provided using LACSD's standards in a Bluebeam Studio review session. This way, every LACSD reviewer could input their comments into the documents and the consultant team could respond to each comment and include a copy of the Summary of Comments and Response in the next design deliverable. Construction Services - RFPs were advertised through LACSD's Listing of Advertised Construction Projects webpage. Bids were also required to be submitted electronically using QuestCDN, together with an electronic copy of a certified check, cashier's check, or bid bond. Bid opening and contract award were also expedited by LACSD. Once the contractors were selected, the projects were setup in LACSD's system. All communications, review and approval of submittals, inspection reports, and all other construction management records were submitted and processed electronically. This paper and presentation will detail the process used during design of the projects, benefits of using ADR for condition assessment of the sewers, and benefits of the overall expedited design process and rehabilitation program..

In 2021, the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD or Districts) embarked on an aggressive program to rehabilitate approximately 100 miles of existing trunk sewers that were originally constructed between the 1940s and early 1960s using non-reinforced concrete pipe (NRCP). This paper and presentation describe LACSD's Program for Rehabilitation of NRCP sewer pipelines, including implementation of innovative technologies to ensure timely completion of these vital infrastructure projects.

SpeakerLeon, Luis

Presentation time

09:00:00

09:30:00

Session time

08:30:00

10:00:00

SessionLeveraging Advanced Condition Assessments for Facility Planning Activities

Session number506

Session locationRoom 346

TopicAsset Management, Collection Systems, Facility Operations and Maintenance, Intelligent Water

Author(s)