Improper Piping On Ferries Will Cost State $766,000

Improper piping for sprinkler systems has led to corrosion and leakage on five state ferries, and will cost $766,000 to repair.

“The position we’re taking is that we made a mistake,” said Terry McCarthy, Washington State Ferries’ deputy director. “We are trying to see if there is a way to prevent this type of mistake from recurring.”

Director Paul Green said he was not informed of the magnitude of the problem until a reporter questioned him about the costs last month.

Green has since hired an outside investigator - the first time in his three-year tenure as director - at a maximum cost of $40,000 for a month’s work to determine the cause of the blunder. John Rex, of Olympia, began work last Friday, Green said.

The money for repairs will come out of the ferry system’s maintenance pool, part of an annual operating budget of about $125 million.

However, the unexpected cost may mean that maintenance projects for other vessels could be postponed for a year, said Joe Nortz, the ferry system’s director of marine operations.

New stainless steel pipes were installed in the 328-foot Issaquah-class ferries from October 1995 to June 1996 to replace old piping that leaked. The Issaquah vessels are the last car-passenger vessels to be completed for the state ferry fleet.

The ferry system’s three port engineers and the vessel engineering section had been consulted about the piping material, Nortz said. What was not taken into consideration was that stagnant salt water causes pitting in the usually corrosion-resistant steel.

“We looked for a material we could use in the fire mains,” Nortz said. “We had used stainless steel in sprinkler systems above deck and they still exist and work very well.

“And so we put these stainless steel pipes in and shortly after putting them in one of the boats (the Issaquah) … the first leak developed.”

Then the Kittitas and the Cathlamet developed leaks in their below-deck sprinkler systems.