As trenchless technicians in Sydney, Australia recently found out, the most difficult problems to resolve are usually the ones that appear without notice. Engineers were recently forced to respond to an emergency sewer situation in Cabramatta, a community in the southwestern part of Sydney that involved multiple levels of complexity and required an immediate solution.
According to Trenchless Australasia online, Cabramatta is packed with restaurants, local retail and commercial businesses and the streets are filled with vehicles and pedestrians in almost every direction. Adding to the problem was the fact that the pipes involved were hanging off the ceiling of the top level of a double story car park located in the very heart of this bustling community.
Initial closed-captioned TV (CCTV) footage revealed cracks and an open joint allowing sewage to escape from the pipes. Workers also discovered that a maintenance hole lid that was itself located inside a nearby law office was also leaking and urgently required sealing.
Technicians not only had to fix the leaks but ensure that the job was done without disturbing the community or the law office. After several emergency meetings with the legal firm, building manager…traffic controllers and a host of other individuals, workers came up with a plan to repair the pipes in a 24-hour period.
To do so, however, the law firm would have to give technicians nighttime access to the maintenance hole which almost didn’t happen. Fortunately, however, someone from the office arrived four hours after the project was to have begun to open the door. Technicians were able to line the damaged pipes using a cured-in-place (CIPP) techniqes and also fix the leaking maintenance hole on-schedule. In so doing, they averted what would have been serious environmental issues caused by the escaping sewage.
Modern cities are complicated places to navigate both above and below ground. That’s why trenchless engineers strive to create solutions that are as innovative as they are practical. When the going gets tough, the tough get trenchless. It’s the future now.
