Looking at Laterals

NASSCO adds the Lateral Assessment and Certification Program to its lineup of tools for evaluating, coding and managing infrastructure

No program has done more to help our industry improve consistency and com-munication in rehabilitations than NASSCO’s Pipeline Assessment and Certification Pro-gram (PACP). Launched in 2002, and a North American industry standard since then, PACP standardizes the way sewer pipes are evaluated, coded and managed.

Today with more than 8,000 people trained and more than 200 municipalities embracing PACP, our industry has a comprehensive and reliable reservoir of data to use to prioritize and plan the renovation of wastewater collection systems.

NASSCO later introduced the Manhole Assessment and Certification Program (MACP) with great success. And, we are adding the third and final link in the collection system — laterals. The Lateral Assessment and Certification Program (LACP) is based on the defect codes within PACP. While many defects found in laterals are similar or identical to those found in mains, some variations do exist. It’s vital that our industry has a consistent method for identifying and coding defects in all three areas of the collection system.

With regard to laterals, our industry must understand certain basics. Regardless of the lateral size (typically 4 or 6 inches) the defects found in laterals are the same found in mains and are coded the same as in PACP. But several codes specific to laterals have been added. The new codes deal with fittings such as wyes, bends, clean-outs and more. Here are some inspection conditions that may be encountered:

• Single-line inspec-tion from the mainline to a cleanout or other access point (most common).

• Single-line inspection from the cleanout or other access point to the mainline (also common).

• Single-line inspection from the mainline to a side connection, then multiple side-line inspections to a cleanout or other access point (specific to certain parts of the country).

• Multiple-line inspections from a number of cleanouts to a side connection, then a single line to the mainline (specific to certain parts of the country).

Typical LACP applications may include condition assessment of high-consequence areas (critical laterals), condition-based preventive maintenance and re-inspection, pipeline deterioration analysis, and pipeline condition mapping.

Software vendors are now being certified for LACP to help with effective data entry for lateral assessment now and in the future. In addition, NASSCO is revising and improving the MACP to make it more user-friendly. These changes will be announced in the near future.

Irvin Gemora is executive director of NASSCO. He can be reached at director@nassco.org. The NASSCO headquarters is at 11521 Cronridge Dr., Suite J, Owings Mills, MD 21117.



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