Problem: The city of Ringgold, Georgia’s water plant produces approximately 1 mgd, supplying 1,400 households through a distribution system with 28 miles of mainline. When an aging main waterline ruptured, the city sought to resolve the issue quickly and with as little disruption as possible, since this line accounted for approximately one quarter of the city’s daily water production. The main runs under the interstate, however, making traditional repair or replacement methods difficult, time consuming and disruptive. Options included pipe boring versus digging a trench, but that would have been extremely expensive and taken approximately three months to complete.
Solution: City officials had learned about USG Water Solutions’ Spray-in-Place Pipe (SIPP) Rehabilitation System, and chose it to address this urgent repair. SIPP is an efficient and long-lasting pipe rehabilitation solution that scrubs underground pipes clean and then uses a computer-controlled robotic spray to apply an internal epoxy pipe lining on-site. Once cured, the epoxy lining seals the pipe, preventing leaks and water contamination, extending the pipe’s service life, minimizing future maintenance costs, and increasing the flow capacity for greater system efficiency. SIPP eliminates major road or sidewalk tear-ups, and works on pipes of different materials and sizes from 4 to 36 inches in diameter, both vertical and horizontal. It can yield estimated cost savings of around 20 to 30% compared to direct replacement.
Result: For Ringgold, repair and rehab of approximately 600 linear feet of 12-inch main took only a week. 855-526-4413; www.usgwater.com
