In fact, the situation is analogous to that of fire hydrants in which two gates valves are installed with a single fire hydrant. Washout valves are used for normal maintenance work of watermain like allowing flowing out of water during cleaning of watermain. At the junction where a tee-branch out to a washout point, a gate valve is installed to separate the two pipelines. However, this gate valve is open during normal operation while another gate valve further downstream is installed (closed during normal operation). If the downstream gate valve is not installed in position, then the pipe section of branched-out watermain will be left dry during normal operation and there is a high probability that damage to watermain and frequent leakage would occur. With the downstream gate valve installed, the segment of branched-out watermain contains water in normal operation. In case there is any leakage, it can be readily detected by using the two gate valves.
This question is taken from book named – A Self Learning Manual – Mastering Different Fields of Civil Engineering Works (VC-Q-A-Method) by Vincent T. H. CHU.
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