Shreveport’s Sewer Systems Making Extensive Use of Trenchless Technology
Shreveport’s residents are dealing with an aging sewer system that is expected to cost $500 million to rehab. The sewer system’s problems continue to mount with the city first agreeing to a $342 million upgrade in 2013 to meet the demands of the Clean Water Act.
The city was also ordered to pay a $650,000 civil penalty due to illegal raw sewage discharge.
The upgrade’s costs, which were significantly lower than expected in 2018, were slated to occur over a 12 years period. Shreveport plans to introduce programs that will help reduce sewer overflows, help the city maintain the sewer system, help with operating the sewers and also a program that will focus on capacity management.
Shreveport’s aging water and sewer systems require more repairs than initially expected. The city has become one of the country’s largest users of trenchless technology which allows for sewer lines to be fixed without needing to disturb roads or cause further damage.
Time and money are saved as federal regulators encourage the city to get repairs done sooner rather than later as sewer and water lines in the city begin to crumble.
Little if any digging is needed thanks to the resin process that lines the pipe that’s already in place. The resin impregnates the line, temperatures are increased and the resin will begin to harden to form a plastic pipe.
“State-of-the-art equipment and superior materials are used by expert plumbers to repair broken sewer pipes. In turn, you end up with an extremely durable pipe system that will not corrode, rust, crack, nor fall apart due to tree root invasions,” claims Primeline Products.
Surface improvements are torn up under a complete sewer line replacement requiring the city to put in new or better-quality improvements when a line is replaced.
Trenchless repairs can also be done in a fraction of the time it takes a contractor to perform a normal line replacement which doesn’t include restoring the area. A 500 foot section takes hours with trenchless technology versus a week using normal replacement technology.
Mayor Ollie Tyler claims that trenchless technology will save the city at least $100 million during just one phase. Tyler claims that prices can be as much as $200 per foot to open up the roads and install new sewer lines. Trenchless technology allows for a price of $80 – $100 per foot of repairs saving the city 50% or more on the repairs.
Repairs will occur over a five phase process with the first phase expected to take two years to complete.
Author: Jacob Maslow