We recently contributed to Robin Hackett’s excellent piece in Water and WasteWater Treatment online which discussed if the time was now right for trenchless technologies to be embraced more readily in response to our national leaking infrastructure crisis.
Here are some of our soundbites below.
On barriers to take up:
“The risk of damaging surrounding utilities in our congested underground infrastructure is becoming an increasingly sensitive issue,” Kobus Services Ltd managing director Simon Drain says. “Because of this, contractors are often reverting to traditional, non-trenchless techniques for safety.”
On pipe replacement:
“There are always going to be situations where a repair is cost-effective, minimally disruptive and a practical solution,” Drain says. “However, on older infrastructure, such as black poly, copper and lead service pipes, it seems short-sighted and impractical to repair the pipe, whether trenchlessly or otherwise.
“Usually, a leaking pipe is a sign that the pipe is reaching end of life, so why make a quick, cheap repair that in all likelihood will leak again in the not too distant future and require further repairs or replacement?”
Water being behind gas in uptake of trenchless:
“Unfortunately, while the water industry does have genuine ambitions to innovate, the pace of adoption is painstakingly slow, resulting often in new technologies being consigned to the corner of a warehouse rather than being utilised and hurdles overcome along the development path,” Drain says.
With Ofwat challenging the industry to reduce leakage by 15 per cent through AMP7, isn’t it time you took a fresh look at trenchless pipepulling?
Read the rest of the article here.