With an expected 50 per cent increase in urban population by 2050, providing safe, reliable and sustainable services for Australia’s cities is a major challenge for the 21st century.
“As with the rest of the world, Australia is suffering from ageing infrastructure of both a commercial and domestic nature,” said Ed Ahern, Director of Nu Flow Technologies.
“This, combined with the ever increasing urban population is placing significant pressure on our water and sewer networks. Many of these services are operating with pipe assets that may fail at any time.
“New approaches to the management of pipe repairs are available to address the increasing inconvenience, damage and danger caused by burst water and sewer lines,” added Mr Ahern.
Typically, ‘excavate and replace’ has been the preferred method of repair – and this is understandable, as historically, few other alternatives were available. However, with the current range of trenchless pipe rehabilitation technologies available, a more proactive use of pipe relining could dramatically reduce the frequency and severity of occurrences of asset breakdowns.
There are significant benefits to rehabilitating pipes, including increased safety, pipe longevity, and water quality. Further, reduced infiltration and exfiltration leads to a decrease in environmental pollution; and decreased emergency spending results in fewer public backlashes in response to millions of dollars of reactionary expenditure.
The use of these trenchless rehabilitation technologies also assists with public safety. There is less traffic congestion, less disruption to pedestrians, no large open trenches and the reduced chance of land collapses.
Pipe rehabilitation needs to be seen as an investment – it saves time and saves money in the long run.
An outstanding feature of rehabilitating pipes is that an existing pipe can be restored back to nearly full potential, reinstating its integrity and extending the life of an asset exponentially. In addition, unlike conventional repair and replace options that can often cause a whole site to be shut down whilst work is performed, this process can be managed to ensure minimum disruption to operations.
Mr Ahern wants service providers to know that there are products and services available that will assist is preventing these types of malfunctions.
“Within five days during July this year, the Gold Coast alone witnessed two major infrastructure failures, both of which have resulted in significant disruption, environmental risks and a PR nightmare for those working with these services.
“When a pipe fails, we go into reactionary management. This puts huge pressure on resources, and often results in significant disruption and costs far more than the preventative measures available. We have seen this in both of these recent cases.
“As a plumber who has been in the business for over 30 years, I strongly believe that prevention is better than cure. Moving forward, we want water authorities, councils and other companies to know there are products and services available in the market place that can assist them in preventing this type of problem occurring in future.”
