Sewer
NASSCO: 40 Years Of Trenchless Rehab Leadership
by Robert Carpenter, Editor-In-Chief In 1976, a fledgling association was born to serve the rehabilitation sewer market. From those humble days, through many ups and downs, the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) has grown into the leading trenchless rehabilitation organization..
U.S. Patent Makes ePIPE® the Fastest and Most Effective Pipe Lining Process to Reduce Lead Leaching and Save Cities Like Flint
(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pipe Restoration Technologies, LLC, (PRT), a world-leading pipe lining innovator and manufacturer, announced today that it has been awarded its 14th U.S. patent, Patent #9273815, titled, “Process for Coating the Interior Surface of Water Service Lines.” Granted by the USPTO, this pat..
Trenchless Elbow Spot Repair System From Infrastructure Repair Systems
Infrastructure Repair Systems Inc., a manufacturer and supplier of patented trenchless infrastructure repair and rehabilitation products, has introduced the Trenchless 90° Elbow Spot Repair system to seal joints, cracks or missing sections within the 90-degree curve of virtually any 4- to 6- inch pi..
Cured-in-Place Liner Research Demonstrates Long-Term Viability
U-TECH: Underground Technology Cutting Edge Technical Information For Utility Construction & Rehabilitation By David W. Merte Senior Project Manager, NYSEARCH/Northeast Gas Association Cured-in-place liners (CIPL) have been installed on cast-iron and steel pipelines in natural gas distribution sys..
Editor's Log: The Right Candidate
by Robert Carpenter Editor-in-Chief Waving a wallet in front of a desperate, starving man without any intent of opening up that wallet and sharing money is a very cruel action. But as the United States presidential primaries kick into full swing, candidates are displaying a similar tendency. Some ..
Underground Construction 19th Annual Municipal Survey
Show Me The Money: Post Great-Recession, City Budgets Are Increasing But Not Nearly Enough according to our 19th Annual Municipal Survey. In 2015, more than half of the municipalities across the United States got a rare taste of what has become an exotic, opiate-like substance – and they liked it...
CNX Awarded Fiber Broadband Development Contract In Kentucky
Warren County Fiscal Court awarded Connected Nation Exchange (CNX) a contract for fiber broadband development on behalf of Warren County, KY in the advancement of the county’s goal to provide fiber-based broadband services throughout the county. CNX will develop technical and financial models in an..
Rapid Set Products for Keyhole Utility Repairs from Buzzi Unicem
Buzzi Unicem USA manufactures Calcium Sulphoaluminate Cement used in their keyhole products. Ulti-Grout is used for core reinstatement, Ulti-Pave3 is for unusable cores and Utility-Fill One Step, a fast setting, self-compacting backfill material. All three materials are used for small-hole technolog..
RAD-AX® Submersible Pumps Solve Wipes Problem For Wastewater System
FoxRock Properties owns and operates two massive office and medical complexes in Norwell, MA. The first of the neighboring properties is Longwater Place, a 27,000 square foot office building, part of a larger 26-acre campus including 84,000 square feet of corporate offices and a 160,000 square-foot ..
Bobcat, Doosan and NDSU Dedicate New STEM Classroom, Lab Building
Bobcat Company and Doosan joined North Dakota State University (NDSU) to dedicate its new STEM Classroom and Lab Building, which will support studies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The cross-functional design of the facility — which officially opened to students in January — b..
Momentum For NASSCO Initiatives Continues
by Jeff Griffin, Senior Editor It seems like every year is an eventful time for National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO), the national organization dedicated to improving standards relating to the assessment, maintenance and rehabilitation of underground wastewater infrastructure. ..
Fitch’s Ratings Projection For Municipal Water, Sewer Utility Sectors
According to Fitch’s Ratings 2016 outlook report, U.S. municipal water, sewer utility sectors are facing increased pressure to the bottom line due to rising costs and lower sales. Despite the trials, Fitch’s Ratings and Sector Outlooks for municipal water and sewer utilities are stable. The sector i..
Raven Lining Systems Earns USDA Certified Biobased Product Certification and Label
Raven Lining Systems has earned the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label for its AquataFlex® 505 and 506 products. The USDA Certified Biobased Product Label verifies that the product or product familys amount of renewable biobased ingredients meets or exceeds levels set by USDA. Biobased prod..
Telematics Comes To HDD
Telematics Technology Aids Crews In Operating More Efficiently, Productively Josh Alkire always understood that, on the typical utility installation, his crew’s horizontal directional drill spent a decent amount of time idling. After all, it’s not nonstop boring on a job. But it wasn’t until he sa..
When Emergency Strikes: Pennsylvania American Water Launches New Rapid Notification System to Reach Customers
HERSHEY, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pennsylvania American Water announced today the deployment of a new high-speed notification system, called “CodeRED,” to quickly alert customers when water emergencies occur. The system enables residents to be contacted via phone, text and email, depending on their per..
LMK Hydro Hat Withstands Patent Reviews
LMK Technologies prevailed on petitions filed by BLD Services on patent claims surrounding LMK’s commercial embodiments for the Insignia Seal, specifically, claims covering the Hydro Hat remain 100% intact and valid following multiple challenges to LMK’s patent claims by BLD. The Patent Trial and A..
Trenchless Technology Comes To Barbados
Two methods of trenchless construction are being employed in a project to improve the water infrastructure on the island nation of Barbados. Using trenchless methods on this segment of the project allows aging water mains to be replaced while greatly limiting the amount of excavation needed to bury ..
January 2016 Newsline
Latest Industry Developments S&N Partners With Bechtel To Build Fiber Optic Networks S&N Communications, a U.S. provider of construction and maintenance services for telecom, cable and utility companies, finalized a partnership with Bechtel, an engineering, construction and project management co..
Aegion Agrees to Acquire Underground Solutions, Inc.
Aegion has executed a definitive agreement to acquire Underground Solutions, Inc. for $85 million in cash and expects to close the transaction during the first quarter of 2016. The Company will separately pay for the discounted value of tax benefits (estimated today to be approximately $5 million) a..
The Thrills! The Chills! Ten Underground Infrastructure Stories From 2015
by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Art Director As 2015 quickly moves into history, let’s take a look back at the thrilling days of yesteryear and some of the underground infrastructure stories that peppered the pages of UC in 2015. There were awards given and records broken and lumps of rock and the loss o..
TTC Auger Boring School
Inaugural TTC Auger Boring School Impresses Attendees The Trenchless Technology Center’s 2015 Auger Boring School received favorable reviews from participants in the week-long training program completed in mid-October. Sponsors included American Augers, Baroid Industrial Drilling Products, Barbco,..
Ditch Witch founder dies
The utility construction industry lost a giant with the Dec. 11 death of Ed Malzahn, chairman of the Charles Machine Works Inc. (CMW). Malzahn’s invention of a compact trenching machine paved the way for changes in the way essential utility services are delivered to customers. Malzahn, 94, died i..
Alaskan Villages Still Without Plumbing Infrastructure
Despite more than $2 billion in federal and state funding over the past 50 years to provide for essentials such as running water, residents in at least 30 secluded Alaskan villages live without basic plumbing infrastructure. With the State of Alaska facing tightening budgets, traditional piped wate..
CIPP In Jail
CIPP Keeps Maricopa County Within Budget, Without Disruption Estrella Women’s Jail in Maricopa County, AZ, can anticipate at least 50 years of improved flow with no more backups from its rehabilitated sewer system. The emergency cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) upgrade was performed by Irontree Construct..
B&T Drainage Wins Vermeer Ultimate Crew Contest
B&T Drainage of Marshall, IL, proved themselves as the ultimate drilling crew at the 2015 International Construction and Utility and Equipment Exposition (ICUEE) in Louisville, KY, beating out three other crew competitors and winning the use of a Vermeer D24x40 S3 Navigator HDD for the span of one y..
Green technology emerges for stormwater management
A new green technology has shown great potential for stormwater management – research efforts have shown potential for the use of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) to remove nutrients and contaminants from stormwater retention ponds. FTWs float on the surface of wet ponds and provide a growing med..
Melfred Borzall FastBack
Melfred Borzall’s one-of-a-kind patent-pending FastBackTM system is changing the way contractors handle HDD boring. FastBackTM is Borzall’s new system for direct pullbacks without removing the drill head or installing a backreamer. This unique system includes the FastReamTM housing – used in place ..
Choose the right tool for the job
Total-solution HammerHead®/RS Lining Systems collaboration keeps pace with rapidly evolving noninvasive techniques Today’s pipe repair specialists can take a lesson from Maslow’s “law of the hammer,” revising it slightly to make a similar point: “To the contractor with a sledge, every bid includes ..
Florida County Shows Benefits Of Aggressive Reclaim Water Program
by Jeff Griffin, Senior Editor Programs to reclaim wastewater for reuse have been in effect for more than three decades, with treated wastewater widely used in many areas for irrigation, cooling water for industrial plants and various construction activities such as mixing concrete and other purpos..
Business Shorts - October 2015
LMK Technologies On August 24, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in favor of LMK Technologies, declining institution of inter parts reviews on two petitions filed by BLD Services. The decisions were issued in IPR2015-00723 (Paper 7) and IPR2015-00721 ..
- Tunnel boring machine ‘Clack-A-Mole’ nears one-third completion in Oregon outfall project
- Texas A&M weighs underground transit plan with Elon Musk's Boring Co. to reduce campus traffic
- Lynchburg, Va., breaks ground on largest-ever Blackwater CSO tunnel project
- Wyo-Ben’s Max Gel, Max Bore HDD system boost drilling efficiency, performance
- Federal court halts permits for 32-mile Tennessee gas pipeline project
- Wisconsin proposes new PFAS drinking water standards to align with federal rules
- Elgin, Ill., joins EPA drinking water initiative to accelerate lead pipe replacement
- Dog River pipeline replacement in Oregon improves water supply with new HDPE pipe
- Leaking wastewater systems named top source of San Diego River contamination, study finds
- New Portable Welding System From Miller