More than 2700m of sewer main across Whyalla will be rehabilitated by SA Water through relining, as part of a $2 million project.
The work involves relining pipes beneath several of the city’s roads including Booth Street, Cudmore Terrace, Nicolson Avenue and Playford Avenue.
As relining pipes utilises a PVC liner to feed inside a pipe to create a new internal surface and restore structural integrity, SA Water chose this as the right method.
“After investigating sources of this infiltration across our network and undertaking CCTV monitoring of high-risk areas where data indicated high salinity levels, we identified several pipes to be relined,” SA Water senior manager of infrastructure planning and strategy Dr Daniel Hoefel said.
“Relining pipes is a far more cost-effective and less invasive approach when compared to replacing a pipe, which is especially beneficial in this location due to the surrounding marine environment.
Hoefel noted the strengths of relining in comparison to other methods.
“Our crews will clean each sewer main to ensure they’re clear of blockages before deploying a specialised winding machine into the pipes’ access chambers,” he said.
“A strip of PVC is then fed into the machine from an above ground spool and is wound by locking the edges together to form a continuous helix with a diameter slightly less than the host pipe.
“The diameter of the liner is expanded to ensure it fits tightly against the wall of the pipe, creating an entirely new section of pipe inside to restore its structural integrity and serviceability.”
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