Case Study: City of Santa Barbara restores desalination intake reliability with Victaulic HDPE grooved coupling solution

City of Santa Barbara restores desalination intake in 2 hours with Victaulic

The City of Santa Barbara needed to reactivate its Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant amid a severe drought but discovered a critical missing section of its submerged 36-inch intake pipeline. Facing a complex underwater repair, they turned to Victaulic for a durable joining solution using grooved HDPE pipe and the specialized Style 908 coupling.

Victaulic engineered a solution, retrofitting a hydraulic CG3500 tool for underwater grooving and using epoxy-coated, zinc-anode protected Style 908 couplings for a 100-year service life. The repair was completed by a diver in just two hours. The now-operational plant produces 3 million gallons of water daily, meeting approximately 30% of the city's water supply needs.

City of Santa Barbara