Underground Construction - February 2021 - 24

24th Annual Municipal Sewer/Water Infrastructure Forecast
Municipalities rated several broad
categories as to how much of an impact
they have had on their operations. As
discussed earlier, funding remained the
number-one concern, with 81 percent
of the respondents citing that issue.
Regulations/EPA was cited by 72 percent
of the respondents; hiring qualified
employees was mentioned by 47 percent;
safety concerns by 38 percent; and
community relations by 35 percent.
About 47 percent of those surveyed
commented that they prefer to use
trenchless methods when feasible, up
slightly from 2020, while 33 percent said
it didn't matter to them, and 20 percent
still prefer open-cut methods.

Rating engineers, contractors
The survey asked municipal personnel
to rate the consulting engineering
community - basically a confidence
index. The overall rating was a composite
from four categories: quality of work,
timely project completion, fair pricing

and dependability, based on a scale of
one (worst) to 5 (best). The consulting
engineer's score for 2021 regressed from
3.9 in 2020 to 3.8 as 2021 gets underway.
When asked about the most important
values looked for in engineering firms,
quality, by a wide margin, was again
the most cited factor, by 84 percent of
municipal mangers. Other areas included
" understanding of new technology, "
cited by 75 percent of respondents;
" cost " was mentioned by 74 percent
of respondents; and " productive
relationships with contractors " was
mentioned by 32 percent.
" We frequently find that our
consultants haven't explored options as
fully as we'd like, " said this city official
from the West Coast. " Inexperienced
engineers " was another common
complaint cited by several respondents.
This muni representative from the
Midwest added that " we need our
engineering consultants to be more
well-versed in modern technology. "

Contractors
Municipal personnel were also asked to
rate contractors based on the 1-to-5 scale
in the areas of quality work, timely project
completions, price, and dependability.
Contractors saw their composite score
climb for the second year in a row to 3.9,
slightly ahead of consulting engineers.
Most of the city respondents praised
the contractors they work with as reliable
and knowledgeable. " Change orders " was
cited frequently as a major concern.
" I can't tell you how many times our
projects have almost gotten out of control
with change orders, " complained this
Southwest city official. Said a Northeast
official, " we understand that sometimes
change orders are necessary. But we expect
our contractors to keep a tight handle
on that and keep us in the loop before
problems come up. "
Respondents also encouraged
contractors to become more
knowledgeable about technology and
increase options for projects. *

STATE OF THE ART, HIGHLY ACCURATE GYRO SPECIFICALLY
DESIGNED FOR HDD
Sharewell HDD is proud to introduce it's newest guidance tool to the HDD industry,
the Opti-Trac Gyro Navigation System.
Designed to be compatible with customers standard non-mag bottom hole
assembly, the Opti-Trac Gyro can run in holes measuring 5 7/8 " and larger.
Special projects down to 3 7/8 " pilot hole can also be engineered and
considered.
In addition, each Opti-Trac Gyro has an Integrated Magnetic
ShareTracker system providing secondary position confirmation,
thus eliminating a need for walk-over systems.

281.288.2560 | SharewellHDD.com

5
FEBRUARY 2021 | UCONonline.com
24OptiTracHalfPageAd.indd

1/29/21 1:00 PM
http://www.SharewellHDD.com http://www.UCONonline.com
Underground Construction - February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - February 2021
