North Olmstead, Ohio holds 37,000 residents who are served by 159 miles of a sanitary sewer system beneath Cleveland South. The sewer lines, mostly installed between 1960 and 1974, consists of vitrified clay pipe, 2,800 manholes and 900 hydrants. After three years of a continuous sewer overflow problem, the North Olmstead team has the situation under control due to a huge $39 million capital improvement program and ongoing maintenance procedures.
Near Lake Erie, North Olmstead experiences an average rainfall of 43 inches and more than 60 inches of snowfall. In 2012, North Olmstead underwent a large renovation project that installed 6,000 feet of new relief sewer lines, along with rehabilitating existing pump stations and adding overflow equalization tanks.
Currently, the North Olmstead team constantly completes ongoing maintenance and repair to ensure the collection system is working correctly. In particular, North Olmstead repairs cracked pipes using trenchless technology, a method that has paid for itself in the first two jobs. Trenchless technology allows municipalities and contractors the ability to utilize a CIPP method that eliminates costly digging, and in turn, targets and repairs the infiltration directly. What typically could take a few weeks to repair, trenchless technology cures in one afternoon. North Olmstead uses Source One Environmental's (S1E) product, PipePatch, a No Dig process that creates a pipe within a pipe without changing the original diameter. PipePactch not only challenges traditional digging methods, but has also created a new standard for trenchless technology in the industry. Additionally, S1E provides on-site demos and consultations to customers in order to ensure the pipe is being repaired effectively.
"It works like this: “After we camera a line, Joe and I review all the footage,” Peters says. “We try to concentrate on the major cracks — places where we have soil showing through. Then we use a Source One fiberglass mat as the patch with a two-part epoxy. We saturate the patch, then send it down the line and using a bladder, we inflate it against the inside of the pipe. Cure time varies from 90 to 200 minutes, depending on ambient temperature and patch type.” Once instructed in how to use the trenchless technology by supplier Source One, the North Olmsted crew does all the work itself. “It’s amazing,” Peters says. “We’ve got it mastered.” The utility can’t work on private property, of course, but Peters says his crew will patch lateral lines right up to the tee. “We can go right up to the customer’s line, and now with the new connections patching (recently made available), we can patch right around the connection.” Peters says trenchless has changed his crew’s workload. “It’s a big savings in time and cost,” he says, comparing it to the old days of digging and replacing. “The cost savings are enormous (with trenchless). We plan to stay on top of it.”
Originally published in the July 2015 issue of Municipal Sewer & Water Magazine by Jim Force, "Capital Improvements Cut SSO's". Read the full article here!
About Source One Environmental: Source One Environmental (S1E) was established in 2009 to provide innovative solutions for municipalities, contractors and plumbers in the water management and infrastructure rehabilitation markets. S1E manufacturers trenchless repair products that provide customers with an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective solution while offering on-site training and consultations.