For the first time in history a major Midwestern city used CIPP (cured-in-place) pipe repair to rehabilitate a broken water main, according to the trenchless pipe repair industry news source TrenchlessOnline.com.
While the article doesn’t mention the city by name it could be Chicago they’re referring to. The city had to find a way to fix a deteriorating steel water main that’s used by a metropolitan water district, without disturbing the bustling metropolis above. The ware main itself was located under one of the busiest intersections of the city, which included eight lanes of traffic and two commuter rail tracks.
The massive amounts of people constantly in and out of the area meant they had to find a trenchless sewer repair solution that could be done in a noninvasive, yet efficient manner. After some pipe inspection CIPP was soon identified as the best answer to the city’s problem.
Trenchless pipe repair technologies have been around for at least 10 years. Cured-in-place pipes can take anywhere from an hour to 30 hours to do depending on the specifications of the pipe in question. They are designed to have 50 year lifespans.
The CIPP process involves epoxy liner being put into the host pipe and once cured it is pressure tested. On this particular project pipe repair company used air inversion to line the pipe and steam to cure it afterwards.
The quick and efficient benefits of CIPP technology were on full display as the contractor in charge originally had given a 10 day time period to finish the procedure. The entire process was done in just five days and well ahead of budget.
One of the major difficulties the workers had was coordinating the shut down of an on-bound ramp necessary to gain access to the downstream pit. This involved cooperation with the Department of Transportation, city officials, and the Visitor and Convention Bureau. Due to summer activities and events there were only three weekends the three entities could agree the ramp could be shutdown on.
Fortunately, they were able to get everything done without a hitch and will perhaps look into CIPP usage in the future.
http://trenchlessonline.com/midwest-city-turns-cipp-rehabilitate-water-main/
