Jack and Travis,
To Travis's question, I would not recommend that you redo your gas data model just to better support connectivity rules in the Geometric Network. If you goal is to "clean-up" your data in preparation of the end of year release of the Network Management tools (formerly called Utility Network), than I would suggest you focus your efforts on deploying the Data Reviewer extension. These tools not only identify inconsistencies in your data, they also document those issues so you have a list from which to begin cleaning up your data.
To Jack's question. The UPDM is designed to support both Network Topology (ie. Geometric Network) and linear referencing (ie. ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing). There are multiple options on how to configure these two technologies, as well as multiple workflows to maintain these two approaches to data entry/data management. There is ongoing efforts within Esri to improve the capabilities of these two technologies to work in a more streamlined workflow. These efforts are focused around the ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing solution and the upcoming Network Management tools (formerly called Utility Network).
Tom DeWitte
Esri, Inc, Technical Lead - Natural Gas Industry