Cured-in-Place Watermain Lining Workshop

On June 15, 2010, Communities of Tomorrow and the City of Saskatoon co-hosted a workshop and field day to demonstrate a technology that is gaining popularity in the prairie provinces. Cured-in-place lining of underground pipes has been used extensively in larger cities to rehabilitate aging water and wastewater mains.

“This technology requires only small excavations at strategic locations to insert the liner thus eliminating the disruption of traffic and extensive reinstatement of pavements required for open-trench replacements,” said Bland Brown, Technical Support and Business Development Coordinator for Communities of Tomorrow.

One impediment to the adoption of this technology for distribution mains has been the need to make excavations at each service connection to reopen service connections blocked by the new liner. The development of robotic tools to install temporary plugs and reopen service connections from inside the pipe now makes it economically attractive to reline distribution mains.

Communities of Tomorrow promotes and facilitates collaboration among companies, researchers and municipalities to develop innovative infrastructure products and services for local and global markets. As part of its business strategy, Communities of Tomorrow has created the Municipal innovation Network as a platform for municipalities and firms to contribute to the innovation initiative.

“The cured-in-place watermain lining workshop and field day was intended as an example of how municipalities, firms, and researchers can work collaboratively to search for, evaluate, demonstrate and adopt innovative technologies and practices,” said Brown.

Thirty participants representing eight municipalities, seven consulting firms, a research organization and a university spent a productive day learning about, discussing and seeing first hand the application of this technology. Following the workshop session, participants were taken on a tour of a cured-in-place watermain lining project where they were able to observe the site preparations, insertion of the liner and robotic re-opening of service connections.

One of the aims of the Municipal Innovation Network initiative is to encourage and support municipalities to work together to develop and implement innovative solutions to common problems. Group purchasing could enable a consortium of municipalities to combine their needs into a single contract package large enough to give all partners the benefit of more favorable pricing than they could achieve acting individually.

“This would require a shared commitment to common technical and project management standards on such projects,”said Bland Brown. “The Municipal Innovation Network has the potential to serve as the interface through which these common values and practices are developed.”

For more information on the cured-in-place watermain lining technology and the Municipal Innovation Network, contact Bland Brown at bbrown@communitiesoftomorrow.ca .