Many U.S. cities designed in the 60s and 70s are struggling to keep up with the needs of modern citizens. As a country, we’ve become more and more dependent on disposable products like single-use wipes. Pouring products down the sink or flushing them down the toilet puts a significant burden on our wastewater infrastructure for sewers, pumping stations, and water reclamation centers.
Sewer monsters are growing in every city
In the past five years, gruesome stories about fatbergs in city sewers have become more common. These monstrous congealed masses of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) have been found in city after city, blocking the wastewater networks. The “Monster of Whitechapel” in London’s sewer weighed 130 metric tons and was the size of three football fields. It took more than two months to remove, and a section was placed on display in the Museum of London. Fatbergs are a combination of congealed fat, flushable wet wipes, feminine hygiene items, diapers, flushable toilet cleaning pads, and more.
Never dispose of these items in the water
Avoid pouring fats, oils, and grease down your sink or letting them wash into sewers. Although hot oils and grease may be liquid, they cool off and congeal in pipes and sewers, creating costly and sticky clogs. When people flush non-biodegradable substances like wet wipes, diapers, or other solids down the toilet, they combine with the mass of congealed grease to create a giant blockade that threatens to break pipes.
All drains lead to the ocean
It turns out that Nemo was right; anything that goes down the drain eventually ends up in the ocean. Not only is it costly and difficult for city engineers to locate and extract fatbergs, but the substances can also break off into smaller pieces and get washed into rivers and seas.
Wastewater systems in many cities are overburdened, but dense populations and traffic make it difficult to deal with the aging sewage pipes. Necessary infrastructure improvements require flexibility and creativity to deal with aging sewage pipes and protect against floods. Advances in technology give city engineers alternatives that allow them to address fatbergs and failing integrity that could lead to collapse.
High tech solutions
Given tight deadlines and limited operating space to make repairs, crews can avoid complete excavation of existing pipe networks with high-tech robots. Combining new technology, a highly-skilled crew, and a precise plan make it possible to add 50 years to the life of an underground pipe.
One such innovative approach is to use pipe rehabilitation packers. These flexible tubes allow crews to avoid the excavation of existing pipes when making repairs. Using remotely manned robots, crews can drill through a pipe and remove developing fatbergs from manholes 60 meters away. Once the work is complete, robots deploy one-meter sections of resin-impregnated sheets of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) which are wrapped around a cylindrical rubber tube. After carefully positioning the materials, the packer is inflated with compressed air to push the liner against the pipe wall, where it hardens and reinforces the integrity of the pipe.
Urban centers
As U.S. populations gravitate toward urban centers, city planners must upgrade the wastewater infrastructure to meet growing demand. City engineers have trouble accessing and expanding underground networks due to densely packed housing and traffic. Infrastructure improvements can’t be ignored or the resulting catastrophic failure will create crises. Luckily, high-tech solutions are emerging which make repairs faster and easier.