Papers
Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2014 Chicago
Doug Seargeant, P. Eng.
Many utilities experience problems related to corrosion of buried metallic components of their water distribution systems. In seeking non-metallic alternatives to solve these problems, questions concerning the life expectancy of these alternatives are often raised. This paper describes testing of Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe material after being in service for more than 25 years in Edmonton. The first use of PVC water main pipe manufactured to AWWA C900 in the City of Edmonton occurred in 1977. The increasing rate of water main failure in the cast iron water main material used previously in the distribution system led the water utility to seek a non-metallic alternative. This initial installation in 1977 quickly led to PVC becoming the material of choice for water distribution piping used for replacement of the deteriorating cast iron piping system as well as for installations in newly developing areas of the city. By the end of 2013, the length of PVC pipe in the City of Edmonton water distribution system was over 1, 600 kilometres (1,000 miles) representing 47% of the total length of pipe in the water distribution system. In 1994, a study was undertaken to review the City of Edmonton’s experience with respect to the performance of PVC pipe over time and to assess the integrity of material which had been in service for 17 years. In 2005, the decision was made to revisit the methodology used in the 1994 study and look at PVC pipe that had been in service for at least 25 years. This paper summarizes the findings in those studies and provides additional information on EPCOR’s water distribution system in Edmonton.
Related papers
Author(s) : Ajay Taraiya, Peter Degenhart, Mark Boerakker
In PPXX, a technology was presented for the first time that could bi-axially orient polyolefin pipes. With this technology, it is possible to prepare pipes that have a performance far beyond the standard ones. One approach to achieving this performance is via a continuous in-line process. To optimize the in-line...
Author(s) : Joseph Melesio Venegas
Digital tools can be a catalyst to accelerate the change we need to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement (“The Paris Agreement”). Across all industries and all walks of life we need to speed up the pace of sustainable innovation. Fortunately, within the plastic pipe industry we have several forms of...
Author(s) : Dolores Herran
MOLECOR continuing with its line of leading water infrastructure sector with its technological products, has recently developed a software that can be used through a mobile application or web browser with which users can digitalize and geolocate the different pieces that form a water infrastructure network. This is a...
Author(s) : Michael O’Rourke
The required wall thickness for a fully fused HDPE water main subject to an earthquake induced lateral spread is addressed in this paper. The water main is assumed to be buried via cut and cover (i.e., open cut with typical burial depths in the 2 to 15 feet range) procedures and any laterals have small diameters. For...
Author(s) : Dr. Tania Weyland, Dr. Tobias Eltze, Dr. Rolf Wittlinger, Marie-Laure Bertet, Gregor Huber
A significant amount of water is lost in transit from the water treatment plant to the consumer. A major cause of water leakages is the deterioration of assets including the use of disinfectants. Using chlorine-based disinfectants is known to be extremely effective in eliminating waterborne pathogens, but they also...
Author(s) : Peter Sejersen, Ludo Debever
Microplastics in drinking water and in food in general has been a topic with ever increasing interest since a publication of a study in the British newspaper The Guardian. The microplastics topic has also high focus on governmental level, e.g. in Germany where a report of Fraunhofer Umsicht /1/ estimates the amount...
Author(s) : Amster Howard
This paper focuses on the confusing plethora of choices that a design engineer in the United States faces when selecting installation instructions for buried pressure thermoplastic pipelines. For polyethylene pipe, the decision is between AWWA Manual M55, ASTM D2774, ASTM F1668, the PPI Handbook, MAB-3, PE Field...
Author(s) : Jay Parvez, Richard Nichols
All thermoplastic and thermoset pipes must consider the impacts of cyclic loading on overall performance. Since its first use, PVC pipes have been tested for its resilience to such loading. As testing evolved over time, the method to determine cyclic capacity for gasketed PVC pipes has improved. Previously, the...
Author(s) : Steven L. Barfuss
In 2022, USU completed the most comprehensive water main break survey ever undertaken in North America to determine the performance of different pipe materials. More than 800 utilities responded to the survey. The survey respondents from this study represent 410,000 miles or 16.7% out of an estimated 2.45 million...
Author(s) : Peter Sejersen, Ilari Aho
European standardization of plastic pipe systems has been on the agenda since the eighties and almost all applications are now described in common European standards. An important expectance however is the hygienic requirements of pipes for drinking water: Most of the EU Member States currently do not coordinate...
Author(s) : Roland Valk
To gain an insight into the residual quality of first-generation polyethylene (PE) pipes used in the Dutch gas distribution grid, pipe segments from all over the Netherlands were excavated by the Dutch Distribution System Operators (DSOs) and tested by Kiwa Technology. The residual quality was determined by...
Author(s) : Donald Swen, Leanne Pichay, Nicholas Vallin, Alice Wu, Jim Johnston
In the rural commune of Ait Bayoud, Morocco, two of the most remote villages in the area, Ilguiloda and Izgouaren, live with water scarcity. To meet their water needs, women and children walk several kilometers to the nearest spring each day, often multiple times a day. Consequently, children cannot attend school...
Author(s) : Andreas Moerman, Flip van der Valk, Mirjam Blokker KWR, Tjakko Haaijer, Jan Vreeburg,
Drinking water companies with ageing networks are facing vast amounts of drinking water network reconstructions during the coming decades. This development coincides with the energy transition, which puts pressure on the available space underground. These external drivers give drinking water companies an opportunity...
Author(s) : Bruce Mowry, PhD, P.E., Brian Dorwart, P.G., P.E., David Mancini, Bryan Fletcher, Roger Williams, P.E., Rene Brito, EIT, Arnelio Alfonso, P.E .
The City of Miami Beach owns and operates a 54-inch sanitary sewage PCCP force main (FM) that was built in 1977. This FM is the only transmission pipeline for conveying about 22 million gallons per day (MGD) of raw sewage to the wastewater treatment plant. In 2012, the City identified structural deficiencies in the...
Author(s) : Paul J. Freudenthaler, Joerg Fischer, Mathias Eder, Reinhold W. Lang
For controlled water disinfection, typically chlorine is used and preliminary studies demonstrate its aging and crack growth acceleration effects on polyolefin pipe materials [1, 2]. Although the use of recycled plastics is not prohibited in some ISO standards for polyolefin piping systems [3–5], only small amounts...
Author(s) : Greg Scoby, PE
This paper will detail the steps taken during adoption of HDPE for potable water systems improvements including material justification, creation of related specifications, investigation of available piping components, qualification of contractors and the construction/inspection of related systems. The City of...
Author(s) : Eng. Grigorios Vigellis, Eng. Mohamed Hageb
Continuous development and innovation in the production of plastic pipes made by high density polyethylene (HDPE) has enabled the industry to produce much larger diameter systems than ever believed possible. The enablers for production of such large plastic pipes are three main pillars: continuous innovation...
Author(s) : Jennifer Ravereau, Jose Teixeira Pinto, Malena Bernabeu, Jose Alacid, Jean-Philippe Le Goff, Frederic Mohier, Benjamin Rabaud
Drinking water network fittings such as valves are made of brass materials known to be robust over long periods. Due to the gradual inflation metallic raw material costs, composite plastic valves have grown in market share. Uncertainties remain, however, on their long-term reliability. The aim of this work is to...
Author(s) : C. Losher and P.V. Mercea
In the framework of the German Environmental Agency (UBA) requirements of plastic articles in contact with drinking water (KTW-BWGL-guideline), the compliance is verified by comparing so-called “expected concentrations at tap”, C tap , of substances contained in the plastics with specific limits in drinking water...
Author(s) : Lukas Travnicek, Pavel Hutar, Jan Poduska, Andreas Frank, Florian Arbeiter, Jaroslav Kucera, Jiri Sadilek, Gerald Pinter, Lubos Nahlik
The application of recycled material in pressure piping systems has been considered lately – it was suggested, that the recycled polyethylene could be used as a part of a multilayer pipe together with virgin material. This type of pressure pipes is not availableon the market yet, so their properties can be only...
Members of the Association
