Over the next 24 months the City of Houston expects to spend nearly $2.4 million on sewer repairs using methods that don't require digging up streets and neighborhoods.
The Utilities Maintenance Department of the City's Department of Public Works and Engineering has awarded a two-year undefined work contract to Insituform Technologies to perform routine maintenance and emergency repairs. The company will make the repairs using its InsituformRegistered process, a method that restores the structural integrity of deteriorated sewers without digging up the damaged pipe.
Managing the city's sewer repair needs through annual contracts makes good economic sense for the city, said Bob Lux, Insituform's account manager.
"The city has identified a substantial amount of pipe that needs to be repaired," Lux said. "To bid out each project individually is expensive and time consuming. The Utilities Maintenance Division can better budget its work needs by bundling projects together and awarding maintenance contracts like these on a regular basis."
To make the repairs, Insituform will work from manholes to inset a flexible liner inside the existing sewers. Once in place, the liner will then be heated and cured into a structurally sound pipe-within-a-pipe with a life span comparable to that of a new sewer. A typical 400 foot installation takes about a day to complete.
