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Current and Emerging Water Distribution Main Renewal Technologies
Citation:
Matthews, J. C., A. SELVAKUMAR, AND W. Condit. Current and Emerging Water Distribution Main Renewal Technologies. Journal of Infrastructure Systems. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Reston, VA, 19(2):231-241, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
The funding needed to address aging underground infrastructure renewals range as high as $325 billion over the next 20 years and with the current annual replacement rate at 0.5%, pipes are being expected to last for 200 years, which is unreasonable considering most pipes are designed for 50 or 100 years. While this replacement rate may be sufficient in the immediate term because pipes are still relatively young, as systems grow older the necessary replacement rates will inevitably increase. In addition to the necessary funding, congestion above and below ground is making the replacement of water mains more difficult for utility owners as is the lack of public tolerance for the disruption caused by construction work. There is an increasing availability of technologies for renewal of existing pipes, which provides solutions that minimize or alleviate these problems while providing realistic and potentially cost-effective alternatives to traditional open cut replacement. This paper presents a comprehensive review of current and emerging renewal technologies used for the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of water mains. This paper discusses some of the data and capability gaps in terms of needs that are unmet by the current technologies. To overcome these gaps, recommendations include: conducting innovative rehabilitation technology demonstrations in field conditions; identifying accelerated testing protocols that would help system owners predict the long-term performance of materials; and conducting retrospective analyses of water main rehabilitation materials to understand service-life performance of field-installed materials. The paper also discusses an innovative technology demonstration program created to evaluate technologies that might be able to fill those needs.
