Bringing the Industry Together

NASSCO reaches out to other industry associations to help further the goals of promoting growth in trenchless technology

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Now that I’ve got my feet wet as executive director, I want to take a big step out into the industry and do everything I can do to bring the benefits of NASSCO together with other associations allied to the field of underground construction.

NASSCO’s mission is to set industry standards for the assessment and rehabilitation of underground pipelines and to assure continued acceptance and growth of trenchless technologies. That’s a lofty goal that we can’t achieve alone. That is why we’re reaching out to other organizations to help build awareness of the importance of infrastructure maintenance and repair, which in the end will help us all.

NASSCO is deploying a number of initiatives, internal and external, to help achieve these objectives. They include:

• Partnering with Water Environment Federation (WEF) to help them incorporate the Pipeline Assessment and Certification Program (PACP) into the Operations Challenge.

• Working with NASSCO’s Industry Relations Committee to develop presentation tools to target regional WEF Member Associations, such as the Chesapeake Water Environment Association (CWEA). This outreach will help the associations understand what NASSCO offers in education and training, specifically PACP and our Inspector Training and Certification Program (ITCP) for cured-in-place pipe.

As president-elect of CWEA, I am slated to become president in September. In that role, I will be responsible for standard duties, but my main focus will be on outreach and effective training to support sewer professionals in Delaware, Maryland, and Washington D.C. That includes helping the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers incorporate PACP into its regional guidelines for pipeline inspections under levees.

NASSCO is also working with the Corps to develop an International Levee Handbook to capture the state-of-the-practice in levee design, construction, operations and maintenance, including the use of PACP. The countries participating include the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, and the U.S.

I’ll also be supporting the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) pipeline infrastructure group to help develop guidelines to conduct a sewer system evaluation survey (SSES), and coordinating with American Composites Manufacturing Association (ACMA) to support efforts for continued evaluation and application of good science around the Department of Health and Human Services proposal to list styrene as a “reasonably anticipated carcinogen.”

I was asked recently if I foresee any conflict between focusing on the work at hand within NASSCO and reaching out to other organizations. The answer is a resounding “No.” We at NASSCO know that each association has its strengths, and we are open to partnership with any and all organizations that share our goal — to set standards and build awareness for trenchless technologies.

Ted DeBoda is executive director of NASSCO. He can be reached at director@nassco.org. NASSCO is located at 11521 Cronridge Drive, Suite J, Owings Mills, MD 21117.



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