From:	Amy Fritz
Sent:	Friday, February 28, 2014 2:44 PM
To:	jlowe@ssoe.com
Cc:	Matt Ingham; Alan Schwendimann; Vojin Janjic; Brian Canada
Subject:	FW: Haywood county force main



From: Amy Fritz  
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 1:40 PM 
To: Brian Canada 
Subject: Haywood county force main

Jason:

I met with a potential contractor for the construction of the force main from the Memphis Regional 
Megasite.  It was brought to my attention during this meeting that the stability of  work pads 
constructed on pilings over the wetlands, as submitted in the ARAP application would be insufficient to 
support the weight of the machinery needed to directional bore a 28” pipe, especially once they started 
to pull the pipe back through the bore hole.   

The contractor felt it was imperative that earthen/rock pads be constructed to allow the drilling 
machine to anchor itself down rather than risk having one of the pads collapse and lose a piece of 
equipment.  Although the concept of work platforms on pilings was good in theory, to limit fill in 
wetlands, it doesn’t seem that it will work in practice.  

In addition, it was questionable as to whether or not open cut trenching between two pieces of sheet 
piling for several thousand feet was cost effective and/or better for the environment.  Limiting the work 
space to trenching between two pieces of sheet metal would hinder the types of equipment and pipe 
that could be used and from an environmental standpoint, removal of the sheet piling after the 
trenching was done would require that a piece of machinery dig it out resulting in a high potential of 
impact to the adjacent wetlands.  It would basically require that a piece of equipment sit at the toe of 
slope and dig out the sheet metal causing a high potential for loss of sediment from the slope into the 
wetlands.  Also, the cost of the sheet piling would greatly increase the cost of the total project.  

The contractor, therefore, felt it would be a much better option to just directional bore the entire 
project length.  This would increase the number of work pads needed and bore pits needed, but these 
are temporary impacts that can be mitigated on site, in kind.  Although it is understood there will be an 
increase in the number of earthen/rock work pads and bore pits please emphasis the fact that all of 
these features are temporary and can be mitigated on site in-kind.  Finally, and as importantly, the 
contractor assured me that no more than 2 work pads would be constructed at any one time.  As the 
drilling and pulling of pipe was completed in an area, the drill rig would be set up on the next pad to 
begin work drilling and pulling while, at the same time, the first pad would be removed and 
reconstructed further down the alignment of the force main.   The contractor can use a combination of 
earthen material with non-erodible riprap on the outside of the pad.  Each pad will be in place 
approximately 2 weeks before it is removed and reconstructed further down the force main 
alignment.  The wetlands areas where the pads will be removed from will be stabilized 
immediately.   Each pad will need to be 300’ x 40’-50’ in size to accommodate the drilling equipment 
that is the size of an 18 wheeler.  They estimated about 13 pads will be needed and that each drill will be 
approximately 1,800’ long.  

Can you submit a modification to the ARAP plans and specs, as they have been currently proposed, that 
allows for directional boring of the entire project? This will eliminate the need for all the sheet piling at a 
great cost savings and elimination of potential harm to the wetlands when the sheet piling is 
removed.   Along with the increased distance in directional boring there will be an increase in the 
number of earthen/rock pads and bore pits needed, to approximately 13 each.  The bore pits will be 
approximately 100’ long.  This request for modification to the ARAP application has been discussed with 
the permit writer, Brian Canada, who agrees that these modifications are necessary.  

Thank you.  Please call to discuss if you have any questions.

Amy Fritz, ES5
Division of Water Resources
Jackson Environmental Field Office