Underground Construction - March 2018 - 56

The Last Word...
Eric Sullivan

Many Flaws in CIPP Emissions Study, Assumptions
What Happens When Scientists Don't Know the Basics of Sewer Design
or Trenchless Rehab Best Practices
About The Author: Eric Sullivan is an underground construction consultant, specializing in infrastructure condition assessment and cured-inplace-pipe technologies. In his 11 years in the industry, he has fulfilled a variety of accountabilities in business development, professional certification
and training, and project management throughout North America. Based
in Seattle, Wash., he is currently the principal at Sewer Knowledge Services
LLC; sewerknowledge@gmail.com.

R

Recently, I participated in the webinar titled "Public Health Implications and Occupational Exposures
during Water Pipe Repair Activities," which was provided by the
National Environmental Health
Association (NEHA), with following statement about the nature of
the webinar presentation:
"[The webinar] is designed to
help local, state and county health
professionals better understand
public health and occupational
exposures with cured-in-place-pipe
(CIPP). Results of a July 2017 Purdue University CIPP safety study
will be presented... as well as lessons learned from a NIOSH workplace Health Hazard Evaluation,
and options for health officials,
agencies, companies and workers
to gain technical assistance."
I am aware of more than a few
of my fellow trenchless technology colleagues who have taken an
interest in the above-mentioned
study and also participated in this
webinar, and even more who were
unable to attend, but are quite
interested in this topic and in the
presenters answering questions
from members of our industry.
It's my intention to communicate
what I learned, and the experience
I had, and to publicly ask the questions that the folks hosting the
webinar chose not to answer.
Let's start with a little background on the webinar host.
NEHA is a Denver, Colo.-based
private political lobbying firm and
environmental advocacy group,

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MARCH 2018 | UConOnline.com

founded in 1937 and claims to
have 5,000 members. It allegedly
has a noble and important set of
commitments: "to advance the environmental health and protection
professional for the purpose of
providing a healthful environment
for all."
According to its website, NEHA
also offers professional development programs for certifications
in the following industries: production, processors, manufacturers, retail, restaurants, fresh cut
produce and bottled water processors. Construction services and/
or infrastructure maintenance are
not listed as being in the current
purview of the organization, which
may help speak to some of the
deficiencies of the presentation.
It may also help explain how the
study is currently being explained
as it relates to accurately depicting
CIPP processes and trenchless
technology, as well as the basics of
how sewer collection systems work
and the various ways they are distinct from potable (drinking) water
transmission systems.
Webinar description
Let's go straight to the "horse's
mouth" about the description of
the webinar, and the broader issue
of CIPP vapors and discharges. On
the web page summarizing the webinar, NEHA states:
"The CIPP installation procedure is being used to repair
about 50 percent of the water
pipes in the U.S. While primari-

ly used for buried sanitary sewer
and storm sewer pipe repairs, it
is also increasingly being used for
drinking water pipes and building
plumbing. Because raw chemicals are used and the plastic pipe
is manufactured in the field, the
CIPP installation process releases
chemicals within the pipes being
repaired, as well as into the surrounding air. Health officials have
responded to building contamination incidents because CIPP
chemicals have traveled through
sewer pipes and air intake systems into nearby buildings. Some
incidents prompted the evacuation of homes, office buildings,
day care centers and schools, and
required some persons to seek
medical care."
Let's unpack this. The claim that
"CIPP is used to repair 50 percent
of water pipes in the US" is false.
There are, in fact, only a handful
of companies who currently offer
CIPP rehab services on potable
water pipes, namely Insituform,
Inland Pipe Rehab (IPR), Michels
and SAK Construction, and several
others. Performing CIPP repairs
on pressure pipes, especially public
drinking water pipes, presents nu-

merous challenges (access through
difficult valve openings, complex
bypass setups, and effectively sealing off side connections from resin
migration, to name just a few) that
currently make potable water only
a peripheral application for CIPP
methods - and in actuality, for
any trenchless technologies. While
the industry does expect to see
major growth in the coming years
for CIPP/trenchless methods in
the potable water rehab market, I
would say CIPP repairs have, in reality, only been completed on less
than 5 percent of the water pipes
in the U.S.
It's tempting to point out that
perhaps NEHA, in its commitment
to make this issue relatable to the
general public, mistakenly chose
to use "water pipes" as some kind
of a catchall term meant to include
water AND sewer pipes. However,
given the logic behind the presentation as it was delivered, and the
arguments and claims posited by
the author of the CIPP study, Dr.
Andrew Whelton of Purdue University, who was one of the presenters during today's webinar, it's
clear that both he and NEHA have
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