Viking Johnson Couplings Specified For Bulgarian Water Project

A new £40 million water pipeline network to supply the Bulgarian city of Ruse with drinking water is to rely on Viking Johnson large diameter couplings for mechanical pipe jointing.

The 21 km long, 1.2 metre diameter, water main is being laid between Ruse – the largest Bulgarian city on the River Danube – and natural water sources in the Slivo Pole area to the north-east of the city.

Viking Johnson, a leading brand within Crane Building Services & Utilities (UK), is supplying almost 70 PN10 and PN16 stepped couplings. These are being used to join the glassfibre reinforced pipe mains to the ductile iron branch pipes, coping with differences in diameter of up to 30 mm on the nominal 1,200 mm diameter pipes.

The couplings (www.vikingjohnson.com/pdf/largediameter_englishV2.pdf) are specifically designed to join pipes of disparate materials and sizes and have features to accommodate expansion and contraction and post-installation settlement. They have EDPM gaskets to ensure long-lasting security against leakage and are coated with Rilsan Nylon 11, which is highly resistant to impact, corrosion, abrasion and chemical attack, to give long life performance.

The Viking Johnson couplings were selected due to their proven quality, 50 year service life and ease of installation. They were supplied to the project through the Viking Johnson Bulgarian agent Glynwed EOOD (www.aliaxis.com).

Ilian Milev at V & K (Water Supply and Sewage) said: “Viking Johnson couplings have an international reputation for reliability in joining pipes of different materials and diameters. They were a natural choice for this major water supply project.”

The Ruse project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010. It is being carried out for local utility V & K (Water Supply and Sewage) by German-based contractor Meyer & John (www.meyer-john.de) and local pipe laying sub-contractor Raicommerce (www.raicommerce.bg). The consulting engineers are Royal Haskoning (www.royalhaskoning.com) of The Netherlands and EGIS BCEOM International (www.bceom.com) of France.