hockeythug
Active Member
I have to apologize for not having spent the time to think about the Flint situation before now.
----->First, full disclosure: Neither I nor anyone with whom I am associated has any financial or other interest in the following.<-------
But now I have, and very quickly an idea occurred to me. I remembered an engineering company in which we invested fairly substantially late in the 1980s. The company was called Insituform, and its product was a cured-in-place polyethylene pipe. Their goal was to create a way to remedy aging subterranean pipes without any trenching. Their product was a liner that would unroll from a single access port - via a manhole, in most situations - and would provide a fully lined pipe-within-a-pipe.
The easiest use for such a product was in wastewater pipes, because these are structured for ambient pressure; they also run larger than water mains. But their process worked for pressurized systems as well, and included taps to account for network branchings (i.e., from water mains into household feeds).
I use the past tense for the above because that is my recollection of the company. I remember in one of the company's early presentations to us I challenged management to aver or deny my understanding of the procedure, thus: "You mean, it is just like an inverted condom." I think they liked the analogy but am absolutely convinced they didn't use that imagery with any other presentations! But it may help you visualize the process.
Our investment paid off nicely, although it wasn't a barn-burner, and we long, long ago moved on, and I've thought no more of Insituform until now. But I did a quick internet search and found they still exist now as a subsidiary of Aegion Corp, whom I do not know. Here is a link that offers the company's products and provides what looks to me to be a quite outdated video of Insituform's products:
Installation Method - Insituform CIPP and Sewer Rehabilitation
I'm hoping this is a small bright light in a dismal situation - whether from this company's products or others, there likely exists a solution with today's (yesterday's!) technology that fairly affordably can provide a solution to the dreadful state of Flint's and other cities' outdated water infrastructure. Any Michiganders might consider prompting their officials of this possibility.
I recently researched the company as well as I noticed their trucks around town doing work. I was wondering what all the steam and chemical smells were. Pretty cool stuff.
