Rehabilitation of Wastewater Collection and Water Distribution ...

new sewer construction market at $4.4 billion. They further derived from their survey that 69.7 percent of
the sewer rehabilitation work was done using trenchless methods compared to 16.1 percent for new sewer
construction (Underground Construction, 2008) although it was not clear whether the survey responses
came mostly from those cities who were using trenchless methods. In any event, it is clear that trenchless
methods have made significant penetration into the water and sewer rehabilitation markets.
The sewer rehabilitation market in the rest of the world is approximately as large as that in the U.S., i.e.,
the U.S. accounts for approximately 50 percent of the world market. Relatively consistent markets exist
in Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Singapore. In these countries, the market structure in terms of
technologies used is similar to that in the U.S., except for Australia where locally developed technologies
using spirally-wound poly vinyl chloride (PVC) profiles (i.e., Rib-Loc) have the major market share. In
other countries, there are more individual projects rather than consistent, everyday markets for both
conventional (open trench) and trenchless methods. In a few countries (e.g., China, India, Russia), the
market appears to be poised for a rapid development into large and sustained markets.
The current rehabilitation market for wastewater is almost entirely in gravity sewers and laterals.
Rehabilitation of force mains remains a small market with occasional projects, rather than being a
consistent, everyday market. This is the case both in the U.S. and abroad.
The rehabilitation of drinking water distribution systems is an emerging market in the U.S. and abroad.
An exception is the U.K., primarily due to privatization of the water utilities in the early 1990s, which
resulted in an accelerated adaptation of new rehabilitation methods. This is not to say that the needs for
water rehabilitation are small. As presented in the report Dawn of the Replacement Era: Reinvesting in
Drinking Water Infrastructure (American Water Works Association [AWWA], 2001a):
“For the first time, in many of these utilities a significant amount of buried
infrastructure—the underground pipes that make safe water available at the turn of a
tap—is at or very near the end of its expected life span. The pipes laid down at different
times in our history have different life expectancies, and thousands of miles of pipes that
were buried over 100 or more years ago will need to be replaced in the next 30 years.
Most utilities have not faced the need to replace huge amounts of this infrastructure
because it was too young. Today a new age has arrived. We stand at the dawn of the
replacement era. Extrapolating from our analysis of 20 utilities, we project that
expenditures on the order of $250 billion over 30 years might be required nationwide for
the replacement of wornout drinking water pipes and associated structures (valves,
fittings, etc). This figure does not include wastewater infrastructure or the cost of new
drinking water standards. Moreover, the requirement hits different utilities at different
times and many utilities will need to accelerate their investment. Some will see rapidly
escalating infrastructure expenditure needs in the next 10–20 years. Others will find their
investment decisions subject to a variety of factors that cause replacement to occur
sooner or at greater expense, such as urban redevelopment, modernization, coordination
with other city construction, increasing pipe size, and other factors.”
These massive financial needs were also reported by EPA, which estimated that $183.6 billion should be
invested by 2023 into distribution and transmission infrastructure (pipelines) (EPA, 2003). Estimates of
need have escalated since these figures were published due to the increased worldwide demand for key
raw materials such as ductile iron, copper, and plastic feedstocks.
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