July 2023 Vol. 78 No. 7
Editor's Log
Rehab comes of age
by Robert Carpenter, Editor-in-Chief
In this issue of Underground Infrastructure, we have a strong focus on the rehabilitation of America’s sewer and water systems. While most take for granted the wide spectrum of technologies, methods and applications available today – and mostly in an increasingly cost-effective manner, I might add – the fact is that even the concept of rehabilitation has made a phenomenal jump in a very short period of time.
From largely technological dreams to proven reality, the diversity of rehabilitation applications has spread like wildfire over the past 50 years. It wasn’t that long ago that contractors and engineers had to go to great lengths to convince and prove to municipal owners that new rehab methods could be the best and most economical solutions to long-standing problems.
Just mention the need for a replacement and repair project to a city staffer and you could hear the groans for miles. Such a project meant torn up streets for blocks, all kinds of heavy construction equipment sharing the road with urban traffic, detours and flagmen daring their safety in rush hour.
And then you had to put it all back together again and too often the roads were never the same. Such projects, while necessary, were the bane of city utility departments as they struggled to finance and execute this work.
With the birth of cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) in 1971, a technology was born that forever changed the face of infrastructure rehabilitation and launched a wildly successful market. Appropriately, CIPP’s golden anniversary was celebrated in style in 2021 at the annual UCT Conference in Nashville, Tenn.
Despite recovery efforts from COVID still ongoing, a large crowd gathered to celebrate what CIPP meant to the rehabilitation market and to honor two early pioneers: CIPP founder Eric Wood, along with Bob Affholder of SAK. These two individuals are largely credited with the creation and expansion of CIPP technology.
Although the basic concept of CIPP has not changed since the 1970s, the materials, installation techniques and equipment have improved and changed dramatically. CIPP installations have gone from inception to a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry.
Unfortunately, today CIPP continues to be under siege from outside forces with little understanding of the actual benefits and low risks of the technology. But leading trenchless rehab trade association NASSCO has stepped up with extensive research guidance and funding to determine that safe operations can and are occurring with every CIPP installation and there is little-to-no danger to workers or the public.
Fortunately, market evolution over the years has found its way into academics, with the formation and growth of outstanding educational centers. NASSCO partnered with two of the top research centers to address speculation about styrene.
Conducting the first part of what has ultimately become a three-phase study on the impacts and effects of styrene was the Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education at the University of Texas-Arlington. Phase II and the recently completed Phase III were conducted by the original research center for trenchless methods, the Trenchless Technology Center at Louisiana Tech University.
With each step, the industry has learned more about how styrene actually works in a field environment. Recommendations have made the procedures safer but, above all, provided clarity to the scare tactics, clearly proving that quality operators following standard operating procedures can deliver a completed job without danger to employees and community members.
In this issue of Underground Infrastructure, Dr. John Matthews, TTC director, and Quade Wells, lab manager, explain in detail the results of the most-recent Phase III study.
NASSCO’s dedication to defending the rehabilitation industry from ill-conceived or erroneous assaults, in fact, goes back to the early days of the association. Remember when the late David Magill, then owner/president of Avanti, led the charge against the EPA when acrylamide grout was improperly classified as a dangerous material?
NASSCO elevated its position as more than just a social club by backing Magill’s efforts and ultimately causing a reclassification of a proven safe product that was much needed for industry. Today, NASSCO continues to advocate for the rehabilitation industry in general through a lobbying arm in Washington D.C.
Rehab, of course, has become much more than just CIPP and grout. Pipe bursting, point repairs, spray-on coatings, lateral and manhole rehab have taken on all kinds of new forms in steadily increasing levels of effectiveness.
Asset management has become a stalwart of all rehab programs. The assessment of sewer and water lines today is a far cry from static-filled black and white images of a few decades ago. Now, multi-functional robots crawl through pipes sending back not only high-definition, full-color images and videos, but all kinds of ancillary data and evaluations of the pipes, supplying almost instantaneous summations of pipe conditions and rehabilitation needs.
What’s next for rehab? Clearly, a plethora of products will be hitting the market in the coming years. Quality control will take additional steps. Already, other approaches and concepts to sewer rehabilitation are being explored that could send the industry to new heights of dependability, lower community impacts and better long-term results. UI
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