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Monday, 8/25/97 Westwood Plaza runs into pipe installation delays, mishaps CONSTRUCTION Leak, site difficulties, material choice make for late completion

By Patrick Kerkstra Daily Bruin Senior Staff The construction pit running the length of Westwood Plaza isn't expected to close until Sept. 17 - 3 1/2 months after the beleaguered project was initially scheduled to end. A tricky site, an unfortunate choice of materials and an elusive leak are the primary reasons behind the delay, which officials now say could have been avoided if they'd approached the project differently. The project began as a routine one - installation of a new section of UCLA's massive chilled-water line. The chilled water, which is used for air conditioning, runs through two 24-inch pipes that worm their way across campus. The mistake in the latest line extension was choosing plastic piping over steel. Steel, which is expensive and difficult to install, usually lasts longer and most importantly, does not leak. Plastic sometimes does. This time, it did, and what began as an attempt to save money may end up costing the university far more in the long run. Construction workers have searched for the evasive leak for six weeks, tearing up a good chunk of the work they spent months putting together. "The system in place on most of the campus is welded steel," said David Johnson, director of Energy Services. "In hindsight, this would have been a great time to use welded steel." Plastic is not only susceptible to leaks, but because it is far lighter than steel piping, many of the pipe joints must be buried in concrete for the test. The test found a small leak in one of the pipes, but because the pipes were already half-covered with concrete, the leak was incredibly difficult to locate - hence the long delay and extra expense. "Normally when we use this kind of pipe we require that all of the joints are exposed until the test is made," Johnson said. "All of the pipe joints weren't exposed this time because of the difficulty of the area." Like any excavation, the chilled-water line installation has had to contend with buried pipes, telecommunications lines and other underground obstacles. But officials say Westwood Plaza was particularly difficult to navigate. "The path we've taken in front of Ackerman is one of the most congested underground paths in the university," Johnson said. This has led to more twists and turns than are usual for the chilled-water line, which forced workers to bury far more of the pipe with concrete before testing than is normally acceptable. Although plastic clearly was the wrong material in this case, Johnson defended the use of the less expensive material in most other cases. "PVC pipe has a good service record. Its material cost is less and it's been used successfully elsewhere on campus," he said. "We would not have used PVC had we not been convinced it was perfectly serviceable." Although Johnson's department, Energy Services, provides the water for the chilled water system, Capital Programs is responsible for the physical construction of the piping system. Johnson deferred all questions about the financial consequences of the leak to Capital Programs, but The Bruin was unable to speak about the project to anyone within Capital Programs. Design manager Pam Wilson is heading the project for Capital Programs, but she did not return multiple requests made over a week for comment on this story. Ron Lindsey, a consultant working with Wilson, would only say the project is scheduled to end by Sept. 17. Several other Capital Programs officials did not return calls or e-mail queries placed Friday. Meanwhile, construction workers continue retracing their steps and repeating work once thought done in Westwood Plaza. AARON TOUT/Daily Bruin Construction workers remove concrete supports from the pipes to find a leak in the chilled-water system. Previous Daily Bruin Story Expansion project to add new parking under field