Pipe Bursting Asbestos Cement Pipe: The Process Is Established but What’s Next

Abstract

The City of Casselberry completed its $10.3 million asbestos cement (AC) pre-chlorinated potable water main pipe bursting project in April of 2014 which replaced approximately 35 miles of AC pipe. City staff has worked closely with the contractor, engineers and regulators from local and federal government to fully understand the applicability of the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) to pipe bursting of asbestos cement pipe. The Environmental Protection Agency and industry representatives have recognized the need to understand the potential environmental impacts of AC pipe rehabilitation and have tasked the Water Research Foundation and the Battelle Institute with studying the various methods of AC pipe rehabilitation. The environmental impacts of pipe bursting AC pipe have been analyzed with the Casselberry Water Quality Improvement Project as its pilot project. Results of the WRF study indicate that bursting AC pipe is more environmentally friendly than removing the existing AC pipe while providing the option to rehabilitate the existing pipeline in place. This paper will present the results of WRF Project #4465 while clearly describing how to burst AC pipelines and meet all existing regulations. This paper describes the challenges and successes of implementing a pipe bursting project, from field application of pipe bursting technology to working directly with regulators and rightof-way controllers who may be skeptical about pipe bursting AC pipe. A potential path forward through submission of a potential Administrator Approved Alternate to EPA that accepts a streamlined AC pipe bursting process is also presented.