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Performance Evaluation of Innovative Water Main Rehabilitation Cured-In-Place Pipe Lining Product in Cleveland, OH
Citation:
Matthews, J., W. Condit, R. Wensink, AND G. Lewis. Performance Evaluation of Innovative Water Main Rehabilitation Cured-In-Place Pipe Lining Product in Cleveland, OH. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-12/012, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Some utilities are seeking emerging and innovative rehabilitation technologies to extend the service life of and repair a greater portion of their infrastructure systems. However, information on new technologies is not always readily available and easy to obtain. To help provide this information, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed an innovative technology demonstration program to evaluate technologies that have the potential to increase the effectiveness of the operation, maintenance, and renewal of aging water distribution and wastewater conveyance systems and reduce costs. This program also could be used to make the technologies’ capabilities better known to the industry. This report describes the performance evaluation of a Sanexen Aqua-Pipe® cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining product for water main rehabilitation that was demonstrated in Cleveland, Ohio. The demonstration approach began by developing a demonstration protocol to provide a consistent approach for conducting the project by outlining the approach to plan, coordinate, and perform the demonstration. Specific metrics evaluated under this program included technology maturity, feasibility, complexity, performance, cost, and environmental impact. These metrics were used to identify five emerging and innovative water main rehabilitation technologies for potential demonstration, one of which was the use of a structural CIPP lining, which has potential as a structural alternative to traditional open-cut techniques used in water distribution pipes. The CIPP lining demonstration was completed over the course of a week on seven lining runs spanning a total of 1,996 ft of 6 in. cast iron water main and each lining run passed post-installation pressure testing. A total of 17 of the 63 service connections (27%) had to be reinstated externally due to connections that were flush, located in folds, blocked, deformed during cleaning, or misaligned with the corporation stops. The evaluation metrics showed that the technology is innovative since it has been used at little more than 20 sites in the U.S. with several utilities expressing their willingness to use the technology in the future. The technology met the project rehabilitation requirements and is considered to be beneficial for small, medium, and large utilities in need of structural alternatives to replacement. The project lasted 10 weeks: two weeks for bypass/excavation; seven weeks for pipe preparation, liner installation, and reconnection with the pipe out of service; and one week for site restoration. For the service connections, 5% (3 of 63) of the services were reinstated externally due to common issues and another 22% (14 of 63) had to be reinstated externally due to events the manufacturer has rarely encountered. The liner exceeded the requirements of ASTM F-1216, performed in a manner consistent with a fully-structural Class IV CIPP liner, and improved the Hazen-Williams C-factor by nearly 43% from 78.5 to 112.1. The overall demonstration cost was $505,687 for a unit cost of $247.89/liner foot (lf) and the CIPP portion of the project accounted for $374,000 of the total cost for a unit cost of $187.38/lf. An estimated 52,880 pounds (lb) of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for on-site operations could have been reduced to 37,600 lb if the lining crew had not mobilized from 600 miles away. A similar replacement project would emit 77,360 lb of CO2 for on-site operations and transportation and up to 6 times more CO2 when considering material production emissions. The demonstration of the Sanexen Aqua-Pipe® CIPP liner in Cleveland was a successful project providing valuable information on the design, installation, and QA/QC of CIPP used to rehabilitate water mains, but continued improvements should be made in the process for internal reinstatement of services. The project successfully demonstrated an innovative Class IV rehabilitation technology that met the owner’s expectations and multiple utilities expressed their willingness to use the technology again. It is recommended that the cleaning process be standardized, and other issues contributing to the need for external reinstatement be studied and improved upon including: flush service connections that cannot be identified in smaller diameter pipes; and difficulty drilling service connections located in folds.