HDD
Improvements In HDD Technology Over Last 50 Years
by Robert Carpenter Editor-in-Chief It is said that the last 50 years have seen more accumulation of knowledge and technological developments than in all the previous history of mankind. Today, technology, on an annual basis, is advancing geometrically. It has changed our lives in ways we cannot ev..
How To Get The Most From Your PACP-Certified Software
By NASSCO Member Ronnie Flannery-Guy, Business Development, Aqua Data Software certified by NASSCO’s Pipeline Assessment Certification Program (PACP) is required to generate and import a standard database file that is fully compatible with PACP. Contractors and system owners across the country have..
American Augers Unveils HDD Exit Side Breakout Wrench
American Augers will soon introduce the RR205 Rod wRangler, an exit-side breakout wrench for use with all horizontal direction drill (HDD) models of 100,000 pounds of pullback force that use drill pipe in diameters from 5 1/2 to 7 5/8 inches. “Field tests are going well, and we expect to be shippin..
HDD Roundtable Addresses Workforce, Locates, Bidding
A panel of directional drilling contractors held a wide-ranging discussion of opportunities and issues facing the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) industry during the annual HDD Roundtable at the 2017 UCT Show in Fort Worth TX. Panelists were Andy Blokker, vice president of operations and chie..
HDD Sustains Robust Growth; Common Issues Remain
19th Annual Horizontal Directional Drilling Survey Who would have thought, just a few years ago, that horizontal directional drilling (HDD) would be taken for granted? Yet for much of the underground utility infrastructure pipe/conduit installations, it is rare that HDD is not at least seriously co..
Report: Global HDD Market to Grow Through 2022
According to an Azoth Analytics report, “Global Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) Market: Analysis By Type (Maxi HDD, Midi HDD, Mini HDD), By Application (Construction, Telecommunication, Oil and Gas, Others), By Region, By Country: Opportunities and Forecast (2017-2022),” the global HDD market..
Technology Helps Utility Reduce Methane Emissions from Pipeline
Southern California Gas Co. recently used innovative gas capture technology to empty natural gas from a permanently abandoned pipeline in Santa Clarita, Calif. The special process enables gas to be saved for later use while eliminating noise and emissions that occur in the traditional venting metho..
Southwest Research Institute Patents New Pipeline Inspection Technology
The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has patented a new technology to inspect coatings of pipelines installed through horizontal directional drilling. The technology can identify both the extent and the configuration of any damage to the coating that occurs during HDD installation,” said Dr. Pav..
Prime Horizontal Extends Range Of Downhole Tools
Prime Horizontal announced a new range of downhole tooling including HDD-specific tricone bits, as well as cutter segments and block leg cutters for use with hole opening. These products can be supplied for self-fabrication or as a complete body with cutters. New 20-inch TCI and MT Block leg cutter..
Rice Electronics Launches Connected Worker Solution
Rice Electronics has launched the Connected Worker Solution with Intel® IoT technology. Designed to improve the safety and productivity of field workers in industrial environments, the end-to-end IoT solution using Rice Electronics smart devices along with Intel-based IoT gateways provides robust co..
McElroy Releases New DataLogger® 6
McElroy has released the new DataLogger® 6, an Android-powered tablet that makes collecting and analyzing data on fusible pipeline projects easier than ever before. The DataLogger® 6 offers a modernized touchscreen interface and easy-to-navigate software system with on-screen instructions. Fusion o..
Corning Launches Multi-use Platform to Make Launching Fiber Networks Easier
Corning Incorporated has launched its multiuse platform, the industry’s first solution to offer a combination of multifiber and single-fiber connection points, making it easier for carriers, operators, and municipalities to quickly deploy fiber-deep access networks. The multiuse platform will be fea..
Viavi Introduces Innovative Fiber Optic Cable Technology
Viavi Solutions has released the SmartClass™ Fiber MPOLx optical loss test set, the first Tier 1 certification test solution for cabling systems that utilize ribbon fiber with multi-fiber push on (MPO) connectivity The MPOLx can perform all MPO Tier 1 (basic) test and certification requ..
Radius Over-Bit Reamer
The Radius Over-Bit Reamer simply attaches over the pilot bit and secures with one bolt, eliminating the need to remove pilot tools to attach reamers. There are no collars, wrenches or tongs. And with the pilot tool still attached, the sonde can be used to locate through tight easements. Available i..
Georgia’s Mixed Geology Requires Unique Solution: Two-Headed Cutting Machine
Can one machine tackle vastly different types of ground? That’s the problem a Georgia-based contractor faced. When beginning the installation of a new 54-inch-diameter water main in Cobb County, GA, which included three trenchless crossings through multiple ground conditions, Strack Inc. needed one..
Rural Alaska Gets High-speed Internet In Europe-Asia Project
By installing 900 miles of fiber-optic cable connecting Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope, Anchorage-based telecommunications company Quintillion Holdings is bringing broadband internet to the Arctic for the first time. Marking the first phase of a larger project to lay a fiber-optic..
Report: Water Utilities Must Embrace Innovation
More than half of water utility leaders globally have yet to embrace innovation and risk missing out on important “sustainability dividends,” according to a new Arcadis report, “Empowering Water Utility Innovation, which builds on a 190-page industry guidance manual, “Fostering Innovation Within Wat..
Proposed Fine on Pipeline Builder Increased in Wetland Spill
CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s environmental watchdog agency has raised the proposed penalty against a company building a high-pressure natural gas pipeline across the state after tests found diesel fuel in samples taken from the 2 million gallons of drilling mud that spilled into a wetland in April. T..
TRC Companies to Supply Real-Time Data for Pipeline Construction Project
TRC Companies, Inc. has received a $2.5 million contract to provide engineering and construction support to PSNC Energy for its 40-mile Franklin and Wake County Extension Project in North Carolina. “TRC has been honored to serve PSNC Energy for several years, and we are excited to support its work ..
Pipeline H2O Announces 2017 Winners
Pipeline H2O, a water technology commercialization program managed by The Hamilton Mill, has selected PowerTech Water and Searen as the winners of its inaugural competition, with each company receiving $25,000. The winners were selected using the Village Capital Enterprise Framework and its Peer Re..
City of Atlanta, AT&T Launch Competition to Solve Infrastructure Challenges
AT&T, in collaboration with the City of Atlanta and Code for Atlanta, today announced the launch of the Atlanta Civic Coding Competition (C3), which offers the public an opportunity to help solve some of Atlanta’s toughest challenges through an app challenge. The C3 program will allow individua..
Report Calls for “Internet of Water” for Sustainability
The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University and Redstone Strategy Group have released Internet of Water: Sharing and Integrating Water Data for Sustainability, a Aspen Institute Dialogue Series on Water Data report ..
Navigant: The Utility Value Chain to Change Significantly by 2030
Navigant Research has released a new whitepaper, Defining the Digital Future of Utilities, highlighting the opportunities and challenges that the utility industry will face during the transition to an intelligent and distributed future. According to Navigant, significant change is already underway ..
FERC: Company Can't Resume HDD Activities for Gas Pipeline
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal agency has told a company building a high-pressure natural gas pipeline it cannot resume drilling beneath creeks in southeast Ohio and northern West Virginia. The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2qu1x2r ) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thu..
The Great Lakes Water Utility Energy Challenge Announces Finalists
The Great Lakes Protection Fund and American Water Works Association have announced the finalists in the Water Utility Energy Challenge, an innovative program which engages water operators in a competition to reduce the emissions sourced in their energy generation. The inaugural 2017-2018 competitio..
A. O. Smith, The Water Council Announce 2nd-Annual Water Technology Challenge
For the second consecutive year, A. O. Smith Corporation and The Water Council have agreed to partner together to identify and support entrepreneurs and start-ups developing innovative freshwater technologies through a global technology challenge, BREW Corporate: Powered by A. O. Smith. The challen..
Helmerich & Payne to Acquire MOTIVE Drilling Technologies
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire MOTIVE Drilling Technologies, Inc. for $75 million payable at closing and up to an additional $25 million in potential earnout payments based on future performance during the next few years. The transaction is pending and is expected ..
PG&E Wins Award for Innovative App
InformationWeek has named Pacific Gas and Electric Company as the winner of the 2017 IT Excellence Award in the Data and Analytics category. The annual award program recognizes leaders and companies that demonstrate outstanding innovation in information technology. PG&E was recognized for its Mobile..
Fluke Unveils New Gas Leak Detector
Fluke Corp. has released the Ti450 SF6 Gas Leak Detector, which combines a high-quality infrared camera with an SF6 leak detector that visually pinpoints the location of SF6 leaks without shutting equipment down. The Ti450 SF6 allows utility crews to include it as a normal part of their maintena..
Companies Join Forces to Help Utilities Better Design Sewer, Water Systems
The SUEZ Group has agreed to provide increased capital funding to Optimatics, a company specializing in technology that optimizes the design of water and sewer networks. “We are proud to strengthen our partnership with Optimatics and to support the development of this young digital innovative compa..
- Intrepid Fiber breaks ground on fiber optic network in Superior, Colo.
- Excavator collides with I-95 overpass in Henrico, Va., causing multi-vehicle crash
- Shrewsbury, Mass., expands sewer inspections and cleaning efforts
- Construction worker killed in trench collapse near Prosperity, S.C.
- Two workers rescued after hours trapped in Mich. trench collapse
- Illinois overhauls Peoples Gas pipeline program, mandates focus on high-risk pipes
- Ameren Illinois to invest $140 million in natural gas pipeline replacement program
- Charlottesville, Va., to begin work on 24-inch water line for Rivanna River crossing
- Mass. governor slams Trump for ‘dangerous delay’ of $50 million in lead pipe replacement funds