REPLACE OR RENEW: PIPE AND STORMWATER CULVERT MAINTENANCE

As our population increases, the performance demands on our ageing water and wastewater assets are also increasing, yet critical planned maintenance programs are being delayed or sidelined in the continual drive for the cost savings.

Pipes, culverts, tunnels and sub-surfaces conduits are all prone to damage and degradation.

With the addition of today’s traffic, loading and increased demand factors [that were never conceived at the time of the asset’s original design], we’ve seen greater requirements for supply continuity while being sensitive to the impact on budgets, environment and the surrounding communities.

Regardless of how these structures were originally built, much like the above-ground infrastructure that they sit under, regular maintenance is required and, from time to time, major upgrades are necessary if the assets “uptime” is to meet performance and safety demands.

If all of the above is true, then cost effective planned maintenance is paramount if these critical assets and services are to remain intact and serviceable in the years to come.

Renewal options

The cost of replacing underground assets is high and inevitably new construction causes large-scale disruption in the vicinity of the work. Replacing assets often carries an unacceptably high carbon footprint, which can impact the environment, community and local businesses.

Several pipe and culvert remedial systems exist that are designed to eliminate the need for costly full replacement and/or open cut civil works.

This suite of solutions and technologies ranges from CCTV camera inspection and audit, robotics and point lining localised defect repairs, pipe-bursting and relining through to full structural culvert rehabilitations.

These state-of-the-art remediation solutions achieve results that often provide 50-to-100-year design life for many of the challenging situations found in a variety of industries such as water, sewer, road, rail, local government, energy and mining; often without the need for open-cut replacement.

To find out more about the technology offered by ITS Pipetech, call +61 2 8603 2000 or email enquiries@itst.com.au