Waterloo partners for potable pipe preservation

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

water institute members in the media

The University of Waterloo has entered into a partnership with the University of Alberta and Insituform Technologies to improve the maintenance of water distribution pipelines.

The partnership is part of the Alberta-Ontario Innovation Program(AOP)-NSERC program.

Potable water pipes in North America are aged and steadily deteriorating, often resulting in poor quality tap water and high utility bills to compensate for the additional costs of trying to maintain failing pipes. Water pipe issues must be properly investigated to find a suitable resolution to help reduce the infrastructure backlog affecting water utilities across Canada and other parts of North America.

The new research is focused on the use of the cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) method, which involves fitting a new pipe within the existing deteriorating pipe. Studies will be conducted at the two universities to advance the properties and characteristics of different materials that may be used to repair the pipes. It will also advance CIPP pressure liner design methods. With this collaboration of industry leaders.

" “The market is expected to embrace watermain CIPP with confidence,” says Water Institute member and professor in Waterloo's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Mark Knight.