March 26, 2010

LIQUI-FORCE SERVICES

Liqui-Force Services is using its expertise in trenchless sewer rehab to develop new technology for rehabilitation of municipal laterals.

FEATURE | Sewer and Watermain

Trenchless contractors digging for more rehabilitation jobs

Demand is there for sewer repairs and renovation of smaller lines with innovative technology

PETER KENTER

correspondent

While trenchless repair and rehabilitation of large sewer lines has become commonplace, the market for smaller lines has been less well served.

Liqui-Force Services, a trenchless sewer renovation firm based in Kingsville, Ont. is developing and launching proprietary technology to do just that, with the help of a $1.3 million interest-free loan recently granted by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.

The new product targets sewer laterals, the connections tying homes to municipal sewer services.

“The need for some method to rehabilitate sewer laterals has been brewing in the 10 to 15 years since trenchless technology has become more widespread in Canada,” says Liqui-Force CEO, Kim K. Lewis. “The front lawn is the final frontier of trenchless sewer line rehab.”

Trenchless technologies are already available for sewer laterals, but they have some drawbacks, says Lewis.

Some of the trenchless technologies still require digging, or require contractors to enter the home to rehabilitate the pipe from the basement side of the residence.

The Liqui-Force technology allows operators to rehabilitate laterals from the sewer manhole.

The system employs a cured-in-place liner inserted by an operator-guided robot and a laser system that provides accurate alignment.

The operator controls the repair entirely from a specially equipped truck.

Lewis says the company has assigned 15 to 20 full-time, and 10 to 15 part-time workers to the project, working in machine shops, testing curing methods and customizing trucks to deliver the lateral rehab service.

He believes he’ll need more workers as municipalities continue to identify the deterioration of sewer laterals as a major concern in the coming decades.

A significant number of homes in Ontario, for example, are still served by sewer laterals made of Orangeburg pipe, a conduit made of wood pulp and sealed with tar.

The material was frequently used around World War II when building supplies were scarce.

“They were fine for the standards of the time,” says Lewis. “Sometimes it still looks really good, but after many years the tar has dried out, and depending on the degree of soil compaction, it may be squished down. These lines are reaching the end of their service life.”

Lewis hopes to use the new technology to take on large-scale municipal rehab projects, not just one-offs from homeowners. But, while municipalities can rehabilitate the laterals to the property line, homeowners are not required to follow suit with the section on their own property.

“The property line issue is a major bone of contention for municipalities and one of the big impediments to relining sewer laterals on a massive scale,” says Lewis. “The municipalities are reluctant to have contractors enter people’s homes. If they reline the lateral just to the property line, they haven’t really dealt with the problem either.”

He says a faulty sewer lateral will continue to leak, and invasive roots will continue to grow into the lateral from the homeowner side.

“With our approach, even in a municipal contract we can offer the homeowner the option of continuing to the residential side for only a little extra money,” says Lewis. “Recently in Aurora, a lot of homeowners agreed to pay extra for something that promised to seal their section of the lateral for a minimum of 50 years.”

Lewis hopes to be able to offer the new lateral rehab service on a full scale later this year, both in Canada, and in the U.S. through the Liqui-Force office in Romulus, MI.

“We’ll have the prototype in the field within four to six weeks so we can show what we can do.”

Print | Email | Comment