“THE OFTEN FORGOTTEN UNDERGROUND WORLD”

UNMARKED SEWER THREATS

AGA Distribution Construction Maintenance CommitteeMike Kemper, NPL Construction Company

September 16, 2008

WHO IS NPL?

Core Business: • The safe installation & maintenance of

reliable energy distribution systems

• Over 500 crews• Over 2500 employees • Operate in 20 states • One of the largest users of

One-Call Centers in U.S

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

4.36 4.31 4.09 3.96 4.55 5.46 5.73 5.83 5.28 5.54 5.82 6.69 6.96

5.45 5.56 5.62 5.466.05

6.056.96 6.86

6.307.25

8.349.17 9.45

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Milli

ons New

Replaced

NEW AND REPLACEMENT FOOTAGE

CUSTOMER BASE

•UNS

•CNP

•SWG

•NI

•SWG

•SWG •KGS•KGS

•BGE

•SWG

•XEL

•Nicor

•WGL

•ATO

•DEA

•SWG

•AGL

•SWG

•APS

SRP

ATO•EAS

•ONG

• MERC

• CPS

•BKH

SOCAL

Peoples

•DUK

• GMG

•STRNVP

•NI

•ATO

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

WHAT IS TRENCHLESS TECH?

HOW ABOUT THESE?

DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM?

Sewer Main

Who’s responsible for marking?

Property line

Cit

y st

reet

House

Lateral to mains

connection

What could happen?

Installed line

Old Gas Service Line

New Gas Main

Sewer Lateral

SOME HITS ARE A TIME BOMB!

MADILL, OK 1/2/2007

OK Natural Gas line was installed in 1992

Headline:March 13, 2006

Woman, Granddaughters Barely Escape Explosion

MIDDLETOWN, OHIO 3/16/2006

• After seeing bubbles in the water and smelling the natural gas, the plumber told a grandmother and her three grandchildren to get out of the home immediately.

• March 18, 2006

Middletown Journal

HOW OFTEN DOES IT HAPPEN?

ODDS OF GETTING A HOLE-IN-ONE

1 in 12,000

MINNESOTA

• 27 cross bores reported to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission

in a 6 month time period.

PALO ALTO, CA

• 4 blocks inspected

• 24 cross bores found

ANOTHER PROJECT• 11,000 sewer laterals inspected

• 250 cross bores identified

• 2% were cross bores

• Just over 400 gas cross bores discovered over 200 miles of sewer main lines – One cross bore located at a school

• Averaged 2 cross bores per mile

• The utility mailed notices to over 50,000 residences asking them to first call a special phone number if they had a sewer backup.

ANOTHER CITY

AND ANOTHER CITY• Averaged 3 cross

bores per mile of sewer main

• One cross bore located at a hospital

CGA CONFERENCEMARCH, 2008

• “How many of you have experienced Crossbores?”

• 2/3 of attendees raised their hands

• CGA’s Locating Sewer Service Laterals Committee reached a stalemate and closed the initiative. The team, however, believes this is an important issue and does not want to be satisfied with the status quo. Best Practices Task Group re-formed this fall.

“The Use of Trenchless Excavation Equipment in Relation to the

Marking of Underground Facilities”

2008

DOES THERE NEED TO BE BETTER ENFORCEMENT OF VIOLATORS?

Need for better enforcement of violators

100%

0%

Yes

No

ARE OWNERS/OPERATORS YOU WORK FOR REQUIRED TO MARK THEIR FACILITIES?

Requirement of owners to mark UG utilities - Gas to building wall / meter

87%

13%

Yes

No

Requirement of owners to mark UG utilities - Communication to building wall

85%

15%

Yes

No

Requirement of owners to mark UG utilities - Electrical to building wall / meter

80%

20%

Yes

No

Requirement of owners to mark UG utilities - Sewer to building wall

13%

87%

Yes

No

LEGISLATION STATUS

• Most states already require some level of locating by the sewer owner/operator

• States need to enforce sewer locating laws

• In the meantime …

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

NOW WHAT DO WE DO?

• Reduction of risk can be achieved with the use of relatively new technology and policies for both new installations and legacy installations.

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

DO YOU WANT YOUR CONTRACTOR TO GAMBLE?

• Average importance: 9.26 (10 = high; 1 = low)

• 40 responses from major trenchless contractors in the US

How important is the issue of unmarked sewer lines to your

business?

Claims on damaging a line that was not required to be marked by law or regulation

78%

22%

Yes

No

HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO PAY ANY CLAIMS AS A RESULT OF DAMAGING AN

UNMARKED LINE?

Types of lines that were crossbores

18%

29%

14%

13%

16%

10%Water

Sew er

Gas

Electrical

Communication

TV Cable

WHAT TYPES OF LINES WERE CROSS BORES?

BE SMART. PROTECT YOURSELF.

Lack ofInformation

AVAILABLE

• One major utility’s standard

• Duke’s policies

• NPL’s Policy 22 at www.gonpl.com

• CBSA’s Guidelines for Identification of Legacy Cross Bores

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

ONE LDC’s STANDARD

• Verification is required using any or all:– Check manholes for depth and direction– Fish tape with Sonde transmitter– Excavate 1’ > depth of lateral near start

and end of bore– GPR, if it works– Camera before/after bore

• Pre and post construction door hangers

DUKE’S POLICIES

• Pre-Construction: Required pre-locating before any excavation • Post Camera: Required to audit that there are no crossbores before ANY GAS UP• Contract line items to pre-locate (often via camera) and post-camera all sewer mains and laterals, services and storm drains• NPL completed 600 of almost 10,000 NPL Bore Cards in 2007

NPL YTD Total 9956

NPL 2007 Bore Cards

1943

14081228

857776

600 597 526 464

265 246 242 198 179 17387 50 47 40 18 12 0

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000IL

GA

MN

PG CT CI

SCA BA KS SP

SAZ PA VA CO LV PH DA NJ

NN

V

SLC

NAZ IN

Area

Num

ber o

f Bor

e C

ards

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

CAMERA METHODOLOGY• Trunk line with jump-off push camera’s

from house to street.

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

LITERATURE UNDER DEVELOPMENT

• Guidelines for locating prior to and verification post construction

• Sample Legacy Inspection Contract• Equipment manufacturers – notices• Sample ordinances

– Requiring Drain Cleaner training– Requiring Accessibility to Sewer Maps

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

• Educate local plumbers, rental stores, mobile home park owners … to look before they root;

• Find installed problems …before they find us.

LEGACY SOLUTIONS

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

A CASE STUDY• An inspection program to

inspect sewer mains and laterals for possible cross bores

• 4 priorities identified:– Mobile Home Parks– Multi-Family– Schools– Hospitals

4 METHODS USED• Maps and Records review eliminated

– Wherever evidence of open trench installation (documented and field)

– Facilities installed after no blind bore policy began• Electronic separation

– Electronically locate depth and run of sewer lateral and gas service/main

– Separation greater than 18” required• Video past intersection point

– Used ProPipe and Orbit to complete pilot• Dig and Inspect

– As needed

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

VIDEO INSPECTION TECHNOLOGY

VIDEO INSPECTION TECHNOLOGY

• ProPipe mainline lateral launcher• 8” and larger diameter lines• Self propelled• Capable of inspecting 1600’ (800’ each

direction) of sewer main and 80’ of any sewer service along the way

• Audio and video capable

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

VIDEO INSPECTION TECHNOLOGY

• ProPipe hand operated camera

• Typically used on lines 6” and smaller

• Range 200ft

• Audio and video capable

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

VIDEO INSPECTION TECHNOLOGY

2004 PILOT

• Started in August, 2004• Late in 2004 a committee was formed to develop

program protocol company wide• 13,612 inspections in 2004 • 4 cross bores discovered

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

2005 PILOT RAMP-UP

• Developed and implemented public education communications program– Presentations given to over 130 residential and

commercial plumbing contractors.– Information mailed to all underground contractors

state wide• 44,229 inspections completed in 2005 with

40 cross bores discovered (.09%)

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

TODAY?

• As of December 2006, 91,136 inspections in high priority areas of the project found 56 cross bores (.06%)

• Started single family residence inspections in January, 2007

• As of October 2007, 18,894 inspections completed with no cross bores found

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

WHAT’S NEXT?

• Based on experience in the first four priority areas, the potential exists for discovery of additional cross bores at single family residences

• Potential of up to 150,000 inspections in known replacement areas

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

CURRENT STATS

• As of today:– About 300,000 investigations– 103 cross bores found (.03%)– 76 found during the Program– 27 found by plumbers/Roto Rooter

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

PILOT AREARECOMMENDATION

• Continue Program in single family residential areas and other replacement areas

• Continue Public Education Program with area plumbing contractors

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

• Expand the Program to the entire company

“Houston, we have a problem”

-Captain James Lovell, Spacecraft Commander of Apollo 13, 1970

THE EXPOSURE IS:

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

• LOW FREQUENCY- HIGH SEVERITY

• SHORT TERM vs. LONG TERM

• A “PREDICTABLE SURPRISE”

UNMARKED SEWER LINES ARE RISKY BUSINESS

ONE BAD MOVE!!!

- Steve EwingPast Chairman AGA,

Vice Chair, DTE

“LUCK IS NOT A STRATEGY”

• Public

• Owner/Operator

• Contractor

GOAL: PROTECT ALL PARTIES

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

QUESTIONS?QUESTIONS?

Safety. Quality. Best Cost.

A DECEPTIVELY PEACEFUL SCENE

ON THE OUTSIDE

THE BUILDING STARTS TO COME APART

THE ROOF GOES UP

THE WALLS BLOW OUT

THE ROOF COMES DOWN

FROM OVERHEAD

1/3rd OF A SECOND LATER