Cactus-
Regarding your waterline AWWA question: I've worked 5 large bore waterlines as a rig welder, one 42" short line I contracted myself, so I have some experience but there are others who specialize in that niche and can speak more authoritavely than myself.  I am neither an engineer nor a CWI, but I make the point on a job to either be conversant in the code expectations for the welding I will be doing or to learn them PDQ. With that said: rfieldbuilds speaks correctly.  When I contracted my own 42" line and had to learn what I was up against in AWWA, I burnt a lot of time and miles talking with CWIs.  The code, while not lax, takes very little responsibility for self-definition.  It is essentially AWS D1.1 as applied to large bore water line, with a couple of qualifiers.  The most common welding procedure being used during the late 90s on these lines in SOCA and Nv. was downhill 5P and occassionally dual shield .045 wire/ CO2.  On a 20 mile 42" line I rig welded on with the 70XX requirements the welding contractor had me qualified with a a full pen 5P, 6", 6g qualification examined to D1.1 side bends and that was the procedure a couple of us used.  The contractor doing that job who specializes in large bore water transmission work had his guys using a 5/64ths down hill, innershield lincoln wire designd for pipeline work but I no longer remember the spec. on the wire.  It was a very productive procedure, a bit tricky to get a handle on but once mastered  made him a lot of money and he used it exclusively.  It required the voltage module to be installed on my 300 Classic D, which I wasnt going to spend for, so he by passed the code wth charpy testing on my weld test and I was good to go.  He swears by it, as you know, most rig welders prefer to avoid wire.  All the other waterlines I worked required a 1" unlimited overhead and vertical weld test with backup strip, 4 side bends to D1.1.  The 109" Pensaquitos line for the San Diego Water Authority was done with 7018, but it was a 15/16th" lap joint and a guy was either welding with 3/16th" rods or was going to be on that joint for a long time.  The best welders on that line welded that joint in a 10 hour day and inspection was stringent.  Single continuous stringers, one at a time, maximum 1/2" stringer width.  Put in  5/8th" stringer, one warning and then roll your leads.  Those inspectors were real nazis, most waterline inspection is a lot less stingent and usually requires a mag test, dye/pen test and pressure test with soap down for lines requiring both inside and outside welds on the lap joints, ie. after welding the threaded test holes are connected to a guage and small cylinder, pumped to about 50psi, soaped down and checked for leaks.  Good visual weld appearance is alway appreciated but rarely nit-picked and not to the standards most pipeline or facility welders produce.  Welding the inside lap joint on a 36" line would not be a job I would care to volunteer for, at least not for an extended period of time- it gets a little cramped in there for me.  It is possible to have this weld eliminated, as I did on my 42" project, if the contractor can get the engineering clearance.  That largely depends on length of line and psi- might be something to look into.  If not, you might keep in mind you will need a sufficient sized air mover to keep the smoke clear for the inside welders, at whose expense providing, fueling and keeping that running will be yours to wrangle with the General.  Having read postings from you in the past, it appears you tend to focus and specialize more in the gas and energy business than large bore waterlines.  Water work is generally IMHO far less critically challenging, but every application in this trade has its tricks, short cuts and learning curve and I thought I might pass on the few crumbs I've gleaned from my limited time in those particular trenches. Nothing a competent welder/contractor wouldn't figure out for himself, but if it saves you a step or two...then again we all know how much free advice is usually worth.  I would say though, if I was going to contract a decent sized large bore waterline, and especially if I was not going to self perform or be able to be onsite for its daily managment, I would absoutely recruit a guy with experience and expertise as a lead man to oversee and train the welders in a few of the essentials like but strap fit ups.  Again not rocket science, but I hate seeing guys re-inventing the wheel.  There are several guys on this forum with such experience who might be looking for work, I've heard most of their work is slow untill after the new year so they migh be available.  Something to chew over maybe anyway. Best Reards.