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North America's underground infrastructure is crumbling at an alarming rate, so smarter, more cost-effective and sustainable practices are needed.
Broader use of PVC pipe would solve this problem and enable municipalities to spend taxpayer dollars more wisely. To do this, local governments and utilities need to modernize outdated procurement practices that ignore corrosion-proof PVC pipe.
Explore our web site and visit my blog to learn about the exceptional performance and environmental attributes of PVC pipe, and why it should be included in every bid for water and wastewater infrastructure. To connect to my blog, bookmark this page or link our Pipe Issues Blog to your RSS feed program.
Industry expert and Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association Executive Director Bruce Hollands shares the facts.
To help decision-makers with the complexities of the selection process, the Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association has developed pipe material comparison sheets.
Performance of PVC pipe in California’s wildfires — a clean bill of health.
This technical report examines head loss and pumping costs over 100-years for PVC and ductile iron pipe.
Some pressure pipe designers and owners are not comfortable with the use of PVC pressure pipes under roads. Their concern is that traffic loads will cause the pipe to over-deflect (ovalize).
Discussion of different joint types for storm-drainage pipe – soil-tight, silt-tight, and watertight.
For municipal applications, PVC pressure pipe is manufactured and tested per the AWWA C900 and C905 standards and is now available in sizes up to 60 inches. HDPE pressure pipe is manufactured per the AWWA C906 standard in diameters up to 65 inches.
PVC sewer pipe is manufactured and tested per ASTM standard F679 and is now available in sizes up to 60 inches. Fiberglass sewer pipe is manufactured per ASTM standard D3262 and is available in diameters of 24 inches and larger.
A study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) says open pipe procurement can reduce rising water and sewer utility rates. Click here for report.
More than 40,000 North American water and sewer utilities use cost-effective, corrosion-proof PVC pipe today and it has been in service on the continent for more than 60 years.
Conservative safety factors are key to the durability and cost-effectiveness of today’s infrastructure. Utility engineers have helped to ensure the longevity and high performance of North America’s piping networks by adhering to a minimum safety factor of 2.0 for their water system designs. Unfortunately, the polyethylene (HDPE) pipe industry is proposing a risky revision to the AWWA C906 standard that will reduce the safety factor on pressure class to 1.6. The change is based on material properties unrelated to pressure capacity and for which there is no precedence or valid scientific basis. Moreover, discussion of this issue has been muddled by the HDPE pipe industry’s inclusion of unrelated arguments about improvements in the “design factor.”
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