PVC pipe solves sewage emergency

PLANO, TX – When some four million gallons of raw sewage gushed from a manhole at an intersection in this Dallas suburb recently, authorities discovered that the problem was a burst concrete sewer pipe. They quickly replaced the collapsed concrete pipeline with 500 feet of PVC pipe, restoring flow to the system.

According to Mike Rapplean, Plano public works manager, the cause of the burst was hydrogen sulphide gas (also known as sewer gas). It had eaten through the top of the concrete pipe – even though the pipe was only 24 years old.

“Sewer gas eats through concrete and metal, but it has no effect on PVC,” Rapplean explained.

He noted that PVC lasts longer than either concrete or iron pipes and is much easier to work with. As an example, he said that while two workers can handle a considerable length of PVC pipe, the same amount of concrete pipe would take a machine to lift.

The Plano incident, Rapplean said, is just another instance of the pipe failures that are occurring more and more across the country’s aging iron and concrete pipeline infrastructure.

The Arlington, VA-based Vinyl Institute noted that 2.3 trillion gallons of water are lost every year through cracked and corroded pipelines, which are gradually being replaced with more durable PVC pipelines.

For more information, go to www.vinylnewsservice.com or www.vinylindesign.com.