Features
NASSCO tech tips: PACPTM condition grading system
Each of NASSCO’S Pipeline Assessment Certification Program (PACP) inspection reports offer eight or nine different condition grades. How each of these condition ratings are calculated is outlined within the PACP Manual Appendix C, but what do they mean and how can they be interpreted?
Caverns of Calloway – Dirt pipes are expensive
(UI) — After a heavy rainfall in June 2022, the Trinity River Authority (TRA) was notified of a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) on a sewer line within the Walker Calloway System, a 4.7-mile wastewater collection system built, owned and operated by TRA.
HDDA Mud School provides vital information to drillers
The Horizontal Directional Drilling Association recently held a complimentary, hands-on Mud School to share vital information for new drillers and provide a refresher course for veteran operators. More than 60 people attended the May 18 event held at the Doubletree Hotel near Love Field in Dallas, Texas.
Utility and communications construction update
As the construction season jumped into full swing, the impacts of labor, equipment and government regulation on the contractor are highly impactful. After another month in June of construction employment gains (25,000 new jobs) in the U.S. economy, the challenge of finding labor to complete the potential work remains high.
New leak detection rules for pipelines proposed
(UI) — The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed major changes to its leak detection based not on concerns about safety but, rather, in order to reduce methane emissions related to their contribution to climate change.
Pressure pipe rehabilitation – what’s on the menu?
(UI) — Trenchless methods have been widely used for the rehabilitation of gravity pipelines for some time. The advent of these technologies and methods has lowered the cost of extending the useful life of gravity pipelines as opposed to outright replacing them.
Achieving more accurate utility infrastructure mapping with the help of an app
(UI) — More than 217,000 utility damage events were reported in 2021, according to the latest Common Ground Alliance DIRT (Damage Information Reporting Tool) Report. The three leading causes of these reported utility strikes were: digging without calling 811, failure to pothole and/or maintain clearance, and locating issues due to incorrect and/or outdated maps.
Breakthrough time of styrene emissions through various CIPP coating materials
(UI) — Recent studies of cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) liners have shown that potentially dangerous concentrations of styrene can be emitted prior to liner installation in the cold storage unit or vehicle.
Rehab Technology: Emergency repair of unexpected leak
(UI) — Created in 1951, by the Texas Legislature, North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) consists of 10 original member cities, including Farmersville, Forney, Garland, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano, Princeton, Rockwall, Royse City and Wylie. By 1956, this new agency was providing water to the region.
How digitally mapping, documenting HDD jobs can aid compliance, profitability
Collecting bore and equipment data may seem like added work. If you install fiber, you may worry that it will eat into tight profit margins that are common in the industry. But the truth is, you likely already have much of what you need to record the data.
DCA/AGA workshop provides forum on wide range of topics
In late March, the Distribution Contractors Association (DCA) and the American Gas Association (AGA) held the 8th Annual DCA/AGA Workshop in Chicago, Ill. The event brought together some 150 gas distribution operators, contractors, manufacturers and other service providers to discuss and evaluate ways to communicate and collaborate effectively.
Despite challenges, HDD market continues impressive growth
(UI) — The 25th Annual Underground Infrastructure HDD Survey provides insight into the complex, yet generally lucrative, world of directional boring. Indeed, HDD is a technology that continues to expand to even further heights. It has clearly demonstrated how the introduction and development of this disruptive technology forever changed the face of utility and pipeline construction.
GPR: From glaciers to conduits, digs deeper so you don’t have to
(UI) — The ability to accurately map underground or encased infrastructure allows construction and excavation professionals to plan groundbreaking and other destructive activities more efficiently. By knowing where not to dig, cut or core, these professionals eliminate the risks associated with striking buried utilities or severing structural components, such as rebar or post-tension cables.
B&B Underground and Drilling tackles reclaimed water project
(UI) — While many HDD companies perform strictly small-diameter fiber work, those focused on larger water and sewer utility work are specialty companies. Building a team for the task can be more challenging, too. That’s why B&B Underground and Drilling emphasizes the importance of training.
Pneumatic piercing tool helps innovative utility solutions grow
Fiber installation business creates strong demand for stitch boring in residential areas
Trenchless methods: Trenchers remain valuable for utility construction
(UI) — In the 1970s, new residential developments were being built with all utilities underground. Of course, water, sewer, and gas lines always had been buried, but now telephone and electric dissertation wires were, too, as would cable television services that would come later.
Challenges become firsts in Chelsea River Crossing project
(UI) — What attracts many contractors to underground construction are the challenges they face. Contractors have the leading role in deciding on the course of events that they, alone, can control. As a result of overcoming challenges, technological firsts can be established.
Ice pigging offers low-risk, high-performance option for water system cleaning
(UI) — Park City, Utah, site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, is a 7,000-foot-high scenic wonder known for its sweeping mountain vistas, luxury homes and ski resorts, but its origins are literally more down to earth.
Rehab technology: Canada’s King Road culvert rehab provides structural spray-on solution
(UI) — Beneath four lanes of traffic on King Road in York, Ontario, Canada, a deteriorated ellipse culvert needed rehabilitation. Now, the original structure will continue to deteriorate but is no longer cause for concern.
Orlando’s Richard Howard brought global view, acclaim to innovative public works program
During Richard Howard's tenure, Orlando’s Public Works department was increasingly known for its innovative, sometimes experimental and largely successful approaches to wastewater and stormwater management.
Utility and communications: Construction Update
Coming out of conference season, sentiment remains high, and supply of labor is the one constraint that is keeping the industry in check. We continue to see consistent investment in existing infrastructure and a healthy pipeline of bid opportunities for new construction.
Tech Tips: Locating underground assets
(UI) — As municipalities and other agencies embrace the concept of asset management for their underground infrastructure, locating and identifying those assets become more important. In the past, the options for locating and identifying underground assets were a challenge.
RehabZone continues to educate infrastructure industry
For 22 years, the RehabZone has been an integral element in the annual Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exposition (UCT), and it was again, in February, at the 2023 event.
Underground Infrastructure Conference moves to OKC in 2024
(UI) — The 2024 Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition (UCT) is moving to a later date and a new location. UCT will be held March 19–21 at the just-opened Oklahoma City Convention Center.
Cloud platform gives communities control over their revenue management destiny
(UI) — When the effects of rampant inflation became apparent in Nevada’s Virgin Valley Water District in 2022, a tank installation project budgeted for $2.4 million – similar to a $2-million-project completed in 2018 – received a bid of $3.6 million. So Chief Financial Officer Wes Smith set to work recalculating the projected cost of planned capital projects.
Convention preview: 2022 year of growth, diversification for NASSCO
NASSCO (National Association of Sewer Service Companies) expects to have a very productive year in 2023. The groundwork was set in 2022, when the association did an excellent job of recovering from “COVID fatigue,” according to association President Max Gowdy, “when members and staff adopted new ways to communicate, conduct business and achieve goals”
Rural water district finds success with fusion, HDPE technologies
(UI) — For decades, Randall Community Water District worked with PVC pipe, joining the pipe with bell gaskets. But when the water district was faced with a 3,000-foot bore that couldn’t be done with PVC, Manager Scott Pick realized he needed to find another solution.
Inside infrastructure: House Republicans move early on major energy package
When taking control of the House of Representatives in January, GOP leaders made it clear that a top priority in the 118th Congress would be to roll back some of the harmful climate change policy that was included in recent legislation backed by the Biden White House, and to reinstate commonsense policy that would “unleash American energy” and lower energy costs for American families.
Rewiring Florida’s Intracoastal Movable Bridges Via HDD
(UI) — The Florida Department of Transportation operates and maintains 51 movable bridges throughout the state’s eastern and western intracoastal areas. And in many popular tourist destinations, city municipalities operate many more. These moveable bridges are critical for boat traffic and over-the-road vehicles.
Convention Review: Winners of the Underground Construction Awards Announced
(UI) — Innovative organizations and individuals spanning the diverse underground construction industry were honored when winners of the inaugural Underground Construction Awards were announced during the Underground Construction Technology International Conference and Exhibition (UCT) in Orlando, Fla.
- 290-mile gas pipeline expansion proposed across Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina
- $227 million Garnet Valley water project advances, set to create 73,000 jobs in Nevada
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish
- Construction underway for $1.4 billion, 60-mile water pipeline in Chicago
- HDD industry faces challenges as cities push back on fiber drilling disruptions
- Gehl and Mustang offer world’s largest skid loader
- Growing Pains and Gains
- Authorities investigating trench collapse that killed worker in Ashburn, Va.
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish
- $227 million Garnet Valley water project advances, set to create 73,000 jobs in Nevada