PRS started up in 1997. The company’s first contract was with Brisbane City Council for the upsizing of 225 mm and 300 mm VC mains to 500 mm, located in Longland Street. A 225 tonne Canadian designed Hydrahaul pipe bursting machine was used. Fulfilling this contract was a major achievement, working in extreme conditions such as marshy ground six metres deep, near the Brisbane River. Since this contract PRS has replaced more than 50 km of sewer lines with HDPE in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand. Contracts were completed for councils including Redcliff, Brisbane, Caboolture, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Dubbo, Lismore, Tamworth, Canberra (ActewAGL), Bega and Young as well as Barwon Water and Coliban Water.
PRS has developed a process whereby complete laterals and inspection shafts are all built onsite in HDPE with every piece welded together. This results in a completely sealed system between manholes and up to the connecting points of the home owner’s laterals. No roots can enter the council’s system. Furthermore, the councils have upgraded to a maintenance free asset for generations to come. Experience has shown that most sewer line problems originate from the house connections. Conventional relining and opening of laterals by remote cutting does not solve these problems permanently and is, at best, a short term solution. Over the years PRS has been contracted to replace a number of previously relined sewer mains because of root ingress.
A number of councils have realised it is in their long term interest to spend 20 – 30 per cent more to get their sewer lines and laterals replaced in HDPE by means of pipe bursting. They get fewer lines replaced for their yearly budget but are safe in the knowledge that they never have to return to the HDPE replaced lines for ongoing maintenance.
Upsizing by means of pipe bursting is often the only cost-effective way to overcome the problem of existing sewer lines that cannot cope with increased flows. PRS has done several upsizing projects: 100 to 160 mm, 160 to 225 mm, 160 to 250 mm, 225 to 315 mm and 225 or 500 mm utilising 45 tonne, 65 tonne, 110 tonne and 225 tonne Canadian built Hydrahaul pipe bursting machines.
From pipe bursting to relining
Not every application is cost effective with pipe bursting as access problems and depth of lines may be an issue. This is where relining can offer excellent, cost effective and long term solutions for rehabilitation – provided the right relining product is used, especially in lines with no lateral connections. In the past, PRS could not provide this service. It also became evident that there was a trend for councils to allocate contracts to a single contractor even if it required both pipe bursting and relining.
The decision by PRS to extend its services to include relining was a strategic move by the owners. After conducting research and in-depth analysis, PRS concluded that the only relining product comparable to the characteristics of HDPE was the AM-LINER II, made from PVC. This American manufactured product has been tried and tested in Australia since 2003 by the Gold Coast based company Pipe Lining Pty Ltd, who has now become the distributor of AM-LINER II for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Rim. Notably, since 1992 more than 1.5 million m of the pipe has been installed worldwide.
PRS is now a licensed user of AM-LINER II. It conducts its relining business through the affiliated company, Relining Solutions Pty Ltd (RS). PRS/RS also uses the Cosmic Top Hat lateral connection sealing system to isolate the newly installed PVC liner from any leakage at the entry point of the house laterals. An important advantage of the AM-LINER II is that it is very strong and suitable as a standalone pipe ignoring the support of the host pipe. The relining equipment that PRS/RS uses is state-of-the-art. Choice of equipment and layout in two trucks was advised by Anthony and Michael Barry of Pipe Lining and based on the progressive development of their own equipment. The result is a highly efficient setup that can achieve two relines per day.
Consultancy
PRS also offers consulting services. The two senior owners graduated as Mining and Chemical engineers with extensive engineering, managerial and consulting experience. The younger members have extensive overseas supervisory experience in agriculture and geotechnical drilling. Application of all this knowledge to their own business in Trenchless Technology and hands-on experience since 1997, places PRS in the ideal position to do engineering, cost analysis and consulting services for councils, government departments and consulting engineers
The company can now clean and survey sewer, water and storm water mains with their own CCTV equipment, write reports, analyse data and recommend appropriate and cost effective solutions. PRS can also use the customer’s own data or surveys to propose the best action from a technical and cost perspective i.e. spot repairs, pipe bursting, directional drilling, slip lining, up-sizing, lining, lateral seals or any combination of the above. PRS has the resources to execute most of the work resulting from such recommendations.