In this second installment of our Iron Strong Blog on Sustainability and Resiliency, we will focus on recycling and the recyclability of various pipe materials. As you may know, Ductile iron pipe is made from recycled iron and steel scrap, making it not only a recycled product but a recyclable product.
Okay, since that fact has been stated, why read further? Well, besides being the only primary full-size-range piping product made from recycled material, you should know why this is important to you, me, and everyone else. We will look at the impact of recycling on cities and towns as well as countries and the planet.
Sustainability and Resiliency are today's buzzwords, especially concerning water and wastewater systems, but what does this really mean to you, the designer, manager and/or operator? Utility people today are bombarded with the answer to this question, and we believe that there is no one answer because every system is unique and experiences different priorities and different challenges.
Providing safe, clean water to customers of a water utility is unquestionably JOB ONE. Meeting this goal has always been a formidable challenge in many ways. Source water quality can change dramatically due to weather factors and other phenomena. Additionally, increasing drinking water standards throughout the years evidencing higher detection technology and more sophisticated medical research regarding the health effects of contaminants has required water systems in some cases to change treatment methodologies dramatically.
Should the pipeline material placed in a drinking water system in any way limit decisions of today or in the future regarding the water treatment methodology chosen to best provide safe, clean water to customers? I THINK NOT!
As the name suggests, Long-Span pipe can extend over distances with fewer supports than conventional Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe). In standard 18-foot lengths of DI pipe, a minimum of one support is required within 2-feet of the Bell for each length of pipe. When using Long-Span pipe, distances of 27-foot up to 45-foot and longer can be achieved with support only at the Bell ends.
One question we often receive in the field is, "Can you use Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) when running hot water or steam through pipe?" The answer to that question is YES, but there are several factors you must consider. For this Iron Strong Blog, we are going to look at these factors to help determine what products are needed for each application.
What is the maximum internal pressure Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) can handle, you ask? The simple truth is it depends entirely upon the size of the pipe and its wall thickness. And within any given DI pipe diameter there can be as many as 12 correct yet different answers, given the wide range of intermingled thickness class and pressure class pipe selections available.
Recently, there have been multiple unsuccessful attempts by plastic pipe manufacturers and their trade associations to have legislation passed, mostly on the state level, requiring utilities to specify plastic pipes on their projects.
This legislation is a subject worth exploring deeper as it is being promoted by supporters of plastic and their lobbyists as a fiscally responsible requirement. Still, it provides no consideration for the many variables required in material selection or pipeline design; all are completely ignored in the proposed legislation which would ultimately be an "initial price only" comparison.
One of the more frequent questions we receive in the field is, “What is the size of a piece of Ductile iron pipe?” But that question may apply to the Outside Diameter (OD) or Inside Diameter (ID) of a piece of pipe. For this Iron Strong Blog, we are going to look at a particular size of pipe to help us understand why the OD and ID’s are important to you. We will be using 24 inches as our example pipe size.
Every summer, I go backpacking with my family into the Uinta Mountains of Utah. The Uinta mountain range is enormous, very remote, and extremely beautiful. One of the most scenic areas in the entire range is called Red Castle. In this area of the Uintas rises a towering red monolith with peaks that reach straight into the sky, hence the name. Getting there requires a grueling 10-mile trek, but the beauty and serenity are well worth the effort...
I have given several presentations wherein I have identified the distribution system of a water utility as The Forgotten City: Out of Sight, Out of Mind. Although the most significant capital investment for a water system is its pipeline infrastructure, many times, it gets less attention than other components such as pumps, motors, plant structures, pump stations, and even fire hydrants, all of which are visible to the eye. One mysterious component to some water utilities is Unaccounted for Water. Some say that, like death and taxes, Unaccounted for Water will always be present, with the only issue being the degree to which it pervades.
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