Weathering the Storm with Technology: The Catalyst for Sustainable Pipeline Infrastructure

The pipeline industry faces a tempest of challenges, from aging infrastructure to environmental concerns and limited budgets. Yet, in the midst of this storm, there is a powerful tool that can help us navigate towards a more sustainable future: technology.

Water and wastewater infrastructure is not immune to complex challenges that require adept navigation. In fact, one might argue that the buried infrastructure that brings life-giving water and takes away waste is collapsing beneath our very feet. Yet innovations exist that can markedly increase the design life of these assets without adversely impacting the environment and, in many cases, are more economical than the less environmentally friendly “incumbents”.

Consider some of the environmental factors that go into a pipe replacement project. Excavators, pumps, utility vehicles, graders, concrete trucks, delivery trucks – all burning fuel every day for the entirety of the project. The reward? A new pipeline with an 80-year design life? The dig and replace model is not only harmful to the environment but also economically unfeasible due to the lack of funding to replace the infrastructure that requires attention.

Understanding the condition of a water main or force main prior to replacement is one way to minimize the environmental footprint and economic impact of a project slated for replacement. Non-destructive, in-line inspection technologies with ultrasound sensors have advanced to provide insights into the condition of pressurized assets that allow owners to understand where a particular asset is structurally sound and where replacement or rehabilitation is necessary. This empowers owners and their consultants to proactively plan and budget for capital improvement to known areas of a pipeline that are in jeopardy. This proactive management approach decreases project scopes, budgets, and environmental impacts.

Many owners face three common challenges:

1.???? The water mains and force mains in most dire need of inspection were not designed to be cleaned, much less inspected.

This design flaw (though the designers should not be faulted) results in the necessity for civil expenditures that often exceed the cost of the actual inspection. This fact alone precludes many agencies from performing inspections. We can learn from this though. New pipelines can be designed with pigging stations and isolation valves that allow for basic maintenance such as cleaning. The added benefit of designing to allow for cleaning is that a broad spectrum of in-line inspection technologies are available for owners previously limited to only low-resolution inspections. Moreover, while we cannot predict what inspection technologies will look like in 50 years, we do know that pigging will always be the most effective means of cleaning pressurized water and sewer pipelines. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) should also be considered in the design of new pipelines. Correct placement of flow monitors and pressure sensors are just two design considerations that AI could use to predict leaks in real-time.

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2.???? Many owners do not budget for condition assessment of these critical depreciable assets.

Again, this is not an indictment on any owner or agency but rather an observation of the way “things have always been.” There is a sea of change in this arena as many utilities are coming to terms with the need for buried asset management.

This change does not happen without transparent communication with the constituents these assets serve. Do we love to see green spaces, sustainable development, and resilient city structures? Absolutely. Would our opinion of priorities change if clean water weren’t available to drink and we were left to our own devices to deal with waste? Absolutely! By openly communicating with the public about the impending infrastructure crisis, we can raise awareness and generate support for increased funding. This funding can be directed towards advanced inspection technologies that provide crucial information about the remaining lifespan of pipelines, enabling proactive maintenance, rehabilitation, or replacement strategies. Framing it in terms of replacement cost is often helpful. Hypothetically, if it costs $100,000,000 to replace a pipeline, there is value in spending 2% of this cost on an inspection that, on average, suggests that 3%-7% of the pipeline needs replacement or rehabilitation. Therefore, $2 million is spent on an inspection, $10 million (rounding the 7% up to 10% to be ultraconservative) is spent on replacement and rehabilitation, thus netting the owner $88,000,000. The remaining budget can be utilized for future projects while reducing the environmental impact. Of course, this is an example and there are always outliers to disprove a point, but in general, the case can be made for condition assessment.

There is a reason the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Guide for Evaluating Capacity, Management, Operation, and Maintenance (CMOM) Programs for Sanitary Sewer Collection Systems. CMOM programs have been embraced and are the cornerstone of sewer collection system maintenance for many owners and agencies across the U.S.

Why would we not do the same with force mains? Is collecting samples to obtain chlorine residuals and disinfection byproducts enough maintenance for our drinking water systems? Rhetorical questions, but the point remains that we must collaborate on new ways to look at water and wastewater pipelines if we are to say we have a goal of sustainability and resiliency.?

Emergency funds are readily available when systems are run to failure. Can a portion of this funding be allocated to asset maintenance and emergency prevention? This is a question outside of this author’s purview, but it stands to reason that emergency prevention, through the implementation of a strategic asset management plan, is exponentially less expensive than emergency repairs. We don’t just replace cars when the air conditioning goes out, we inspect the problem to determine if the cost of the AC replacement is less than the replacement cost of the vehicle and make a sound decision accordingly. Why wouldn’t we treat millions of dollars of pipelines like we treat other, less expensive assets like, for instance, a city truck?

3.???? Risk averseness.

New technologies that have been proven abroad are plentiful in the United States market. Agencies and owners are understandably unwilling to “be the first” to try a new technology in whichever region that influences them. The question must be asked though, are the bedding and pipeline materials so different on other continents that no valence can be given to the inspections on those continents? This logic certainly doesn’t apply to most of our personal lives; if a new technology exists that will make our lives easier, we’ll adopt it immediately. Pull out your cell phone and check where it was manufactured. Walk around your house. Look at your car. Take note of where items were manufactured and think about the logic of only purchasing items that are produced in your region. There is a bit of absurdity here, but it makes a point: if we don’t support the technology providers that are coming up with new and improved ways of pressure pipe inspection and condition assessment, they will simply go out of business. What next? ?Will we be left with what we have now which is, in part, responsible for where we are now?

Condition assessment is a critical path to sustainability and resiliency, but other pathways exist. New technologies for the trenchless rehabilitation of pressurized pipelines are abound. These technologies can substantially reduce the environmental and economical footprint of a project. Technologies such as Fold and Form Replacement Pipe (FFRP) can be installed in distances as long as several thousand feet. A 20,000 linear foot pipeline could be rehabilitated with potentially less than 5 or 6 access points in a fraction of the time of open-cut replacement. The project footprint is much smaller, requiring a minimal number of vehicles and diesel hungry pieces of equipment for less time while a design life of up to 50-years can be obtained.

This is only accounting for one product or category of products, but the reduction in environmental impact cannot be understated. Fewer material deliveries, fewer excavations, less concrete restoration (if in the street), minimal traffic disruptions due to smaller traffic control zones for a shorter amount of time. The amount of fuel savings alone substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions. This is sustainability and resiliency in buried asset management in action. And this is just one technology.

One pragmatic challenge these types of solutions present is in relation to the traditional owner/consultant relationship. Consultants design projects and new construction requires the greatest amount of design effort, and in turn hours.? There will always be projects that require the expertise and ingenuity of design consultants.? The question to ask is what is the motivation to develop projects that require much less design effort?? If a business is based on performing designs for valued and trusted clients, it would do just that.? ?This has been the hallmark of the design business and without motivation from the owners, this structure won’t change.

Bonuses for cost savings and environmental consideration could be introduced to induce consultants to consider alternatives to new design. Another consideration would be to award new design projects to those consultant firms that bring new technologies and innovations that result in environmental and cost savings on other projects. This topic expands far beyond the scope of this article, but the intent is to get wheels turning. After all, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep getting what we’ve always gotten.

This article started with language I think we can all relate to in some form or fashion. The world presents many challenges that we simply cannot navigate. Hope is found in the challenges we can address and the introduction of innovative new technologies that stand to change the world we live in.? ?Nothing happens overnight. Everything falls somewhere in a continuum. Figuring out where we lie in the continuum and taking positive action forward is progress towards resiliency in buried asset management and better infrastructure for our children.