Shaun McConnaughey is passionate about providing clean water for communities. An expert in water engineering, he was excited to help execute Oklahoma’s largest municipal infrastructure project ever: a 100-mile pipeline to provide water to Oklahoma City.

The Atoka Pipeline pumps raw water from the Atoka Reservoir in southeast Oklahoma to the Stanley Draper Reservoir in Oklahoma City. The new pipeline will help meet the city’s water needs for the next 40 years.

“This project will bring more than 80 million gallons of water each day to Oklahoma City,” Shaun said. “It will have an incredible impact on surrounding communities once it opens.”

We were selected to provide design, bid phase services, resident inspection, and construction administration services, partnering with Black & Veatch for a portion of the pipe. Construction began in 2023 on our 10-mile, $47 million section, which runs between Ada and Stonewall.

“This project will bring more than 80 million gallons of water each day to Oklahoma City. It will have an incredible impact on surrounding communities once it opens.”

The 2.0 Atoka Pipeline

Shaun says it’s not every day you see a 72-inch steel pipeline installed.

“The project consisted of installing 49,000 feet of opencut pipe underground to help secure the city’s water source,” he said.

The new pipeline will run parallel to the original pipeline, built in 1963. The existing pipeline’s easement leaves about 100 feet to construct the new pipeline, Shaun says.

“The new pipeline is being constructed alongside the existing one, which currently pumps water to residents in Oklahoma City,” he said. “The tight build environment is definitely a unique aspect of this project.”

We work closely with the contractor, McKee Utility, on the pipeline.

“Olsson has been a dependable team member to the project and has helped ensure the project is completed in a timely and effective manner,” said Taylor Medlin, Mckee’s senior project manager.

Their team hand-mined 290 feet of tunnels to protect an archaeologically sensitive area, including a creek crossing and seven roadways. This careful approach protected an endangered beetle species.

“Once completed, this infrastructure will be crucial to support the city’s vision and plan for future growth, development, and prosperity,” Taylor said.

Our suite of services

Another component to a long-lasting pipeline is a healthy surrounding soil structure.

Our geotechnical experts analyzed the soil conditions and conducted field investigations and lab tests. We prepared a report with recommendations for corrosion protection, dewatering, bearing capacity, and trench stabilization that were used during construction.

Our other services included survey verification, easement research, truck hauling, access route design and more.

“This infrastructure will be crucial to support the city’s vision and plan for future growth, development, and prosperity.”

Collaboration to get the job done

Teamwork between the city, owner, and other stakeholders in the program enables quick problem-solving, Shaun says.

“Recently, we faced a challenge with valve installation across the program,” Shaun said. “The program team collaborated to find a quick and efficient solution that will be applied to all future project phases.”

Shaun looks forward to continued collaboration and teamwork as the project progresses.

The complex Atoka pipeline includes nine phases of construction and four pump stations. Our 10-mile portion is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Once finished, the pipeline will provide Oklahoma City with quality water for generations to come.