City Awards Contract For Pipe Lining Project

The city of Newton, MA, has awarded Insituform Technologies a $7.5 million contract to rehabilitate nearly 12 miles of aging brick sewers running through the city and along the banks of the Charles River. In total linear feet, it is the single largest sewer lining project ever awarded in New England.

The project is the second phase of a two-year, $12.1 million program designed to reduce the infiltration of excess groundwater into the city's overloaded sewer system. Insituform completed the program's first phase, which included repairs to 51/2 miles of 19th century, oval-shaped sewers, earlier this year.

The sewers to be repaired were originally part of a two-pipe system that had been designed to divert groundwater from sanitary flow, said Jay Fink, utilities director for the City of Newton. Over time, however, the sanitary sewer and underdrains have deteriorated, allowing groundwater to infiltrate the sanitary system and increase the volume of sewage transported and treated by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

"When this project is complete next summer, we will have rehabilitated all the city's major interceptors," said Fink. "We expect these repairs will not only greatly reduce unnecessary flow in the lines, but they also will put us in a better position to monitor our future sewage flow and identify other potential trouble spots."

Workers from Insituform's Northeast Region will repair the lines using the company's cured-in-place technology. Working from manholes, they will use water pressure to insert a flexible liner inside the sewers. Once in place, the line will be heated and cured into a structurally sound pipe-within-a-pipe with a life span comparable to that of a new sewer.