Utility Set of Plans 2

[gomirage]

Water utility set of plans standards. I would like to know if there are any organizations providing standards for preparing a water utility set of plans (existing and proposed infrastructures, scaling).
Let say when a consulting firm prepares a set of plans to hand out to a contractor to build a water distribution system, are there any guidelines or standards of what need to be specified in the set of plans and how to present it?

For example for road projects DOT has a manual for preparing a set of plans where all the requirements are specified. Is there such a document for water utility systems?

Chris

 

[RWF7437]

Water utilities are usually public agencies with published standards for design and construction. Even if the water supplier is a private water company or district they should have similar standards. In the US, most water utilities belong to the American Waterworks Association (AWWA) which publishes hundres of consensus standards for water system design, operation and maintenance.

 

[gomirage]

Yes RWF7437, you are right. I know there are lot of standards out there published by AWWA and other local utility owners.

What i mean is a way of presenting a set of plans not technical specification of drawings themselves. Maybe i am not being clear enough.

Say when an engineer prepare a plan the standards you refered to , gives the types of materials, sizes, locations, etc. But it doesn't tell him to do an index page, a cover sheet, draw the existing lines continuous or 2pts thick, draw the proposed lines in dash, and so forth.

Is there any kind of convention regarding this ? that is my point.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[RWF7437]

First, who are you designing this water line for ? Ask them to give you an example of what they want on the plans. Then, add to those minimum requirements any other details, profiles, plan views, notes, etc. which your good sense and experience tell you will be needed by the Contractor to complete the work.

Good luck!

 

[gomirage]

Thanks for the suggestion. I could do that. But i thought for myself and my company it would be more cost effective to look around and know if there are some accepted standards. It will make it easier to abide by the rules than preparing all kinds of plans presentation for every and each project.

The advantage of a standards is that any can undersatand your plans if they know the rules.

When i will know that there is no such standards i will try your solution or try to create one for my company.

Thanks

Chris .C

 

[RWF7437]

After 44 years in the water business, I think I can tell you THERE ARE NO SUCH UNIVERSAL STANDARDS of the kind you describe. A ten minute telephone call to the utility to whom you will submit your plans is all the research you will need.

Good Luck

 

[gomirage]

Ok i'll do that. But i was not looking for something UNIVERSAL i know such a thing does not exist. Even the DOT example i referred works only for the state DOT.

With your experience can you tell me how draw you existing and proposed what lines ? Do you do it differently for each project you work on ? if not , why ?

 

[RWF7437]

For a new water line, the most important line on the drawing should be the cenetrline of the new line. You'll want to emphasize what is proposed and de-emphasize what is existing or simply informational. The proposed line should be the heaviest weight line and probably a centerline line type.

We do plans differently for each agency but only to the minimum extent required by them. The principle above is applicable to almost all Civil design work, in my experience.

Font sizes and other such details depend only on their being readable, even if the plans are reduced to "half size".

Get an example of a good set of approved plans and you'll see this pattern. If possible get a set of "As Built" plans.

Good Luck

 

[gomirage]

In my understanding you don't usually do the set of plans for the utility. You do it to hand out to a contractor that will go out and build your drawings. And in contractors industries i know there are standards. Water must be an exception.

I can get a set of approved set plans from one utility, but it doesn't mean it will be approved by another one if there is no rule or standards.

 

[KRSServices]

I read the original thread and then the replies with interest.

Gomirage, in my opinion your last post is not quite accurate. You are preparing a set of plans for construction of the infrastructure, in this case, water works. Those plans are for the Owner, or the individual, company, or Utility whom is paying the bills. Those plans are an affirmation of the design, a reference for tendering and the direction for construction. Some Utilities have their set of "standards" as to how the drawing set should be put together and how it should look, technical information aside. Others do not specify, and usually it comes down to cost. It costs money to generalte that nice and neat little index page, site plan, road detour plan, landscaping plan and any other drawing that may be a nice touch, even though the plan/profille consists of two pages and the detail drawing another page.

I typically meet with the client at our startup meeting to ascertain what they need, if it was not specified in their RFP. I also provide the costs and then the Utility makes decision accordingly.

KRS Services

http://www.krs-services.com

 

[Fizzhead]

Gomirage:

KRSServices is right. If the utility or developer you are working for does not have predeveloped CADD standards, then propose something. In order to do this in a wholistic manner, you should find something that has been used by the utility or developer before and reference that style if it's named. If they truly don't have anything, then run a search on Google and you'll have a lot to choose from. I ran a generic search for "CADD Standards" and got 34,000 results. Many of these are state DOT's etc. but there are good references in there as well. Good luck!

Fizzhead