The market offers a wide variety of quality and cost-effective solutions for rehabilitating sewer networks. The exhibitors at IFAT 2014 will be presenting all the latest technology in this area from May 5 to 9, 2014, in Munich.
According to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, the sewer network in the country currently extends to almost 562,000 km. The DWA (Deutsche Vereinigung für Wasserwirtschaft, Abwasser und Abfall e.V.) — the German Assn. for Water, Wastewater & Waste — estimates that around 20% of all stretches of sewer pipe in the country are defective. Otto Schaaf, DWA president and chairman of the authority responsible for wastewater management in Cologne, said that "for many of these defects, repair or renovation is now a quality and cost-effective option to replacing sewerage pipes, provided of course that the planning and implementation are carried out properly."
Before contracts are awarded for sewerage pipe renovation, both the contracting party and the network operator check the suitability of the tenderers. One basis contracting parties, engineering firms and contractors can use for assessing technical suitability is RAL-GZ 961, a quality seal in the manufacture and maintenance of waste-water pipes. Companies who have been awarded the seal have proven that they are technologically capable, experienced and reliable in specified fields. Dipl.-Ing. Hans-Christian Möser from the quality-assurance association Güteschutz Kanalbau e.V. said, "Almost all the firms that are involved in rehabilitating sewerage pipes in Germany conform to the requirements of this seal. The number of quality seals awarded per rehabilitation technique reflects the market conditions. And the pipe-lining technique continues to be dominant."
According to Möser’s observations, the rehabilitation systems seem to be so advanced that further refinements are now only taking place at the level of the details. The same applies to sewer inspection. As an example, the engineer quoted new, high-resolution cameras, which are especially suited for use in large-diameter pipes. In the inspection of site drainage pipes, progress is also happening: "Further miniaturization has produced curve-compliant, flexible cameras with a turn/tilt head. The further development of 3-D measuring systems enables a largely automated production of system maps in which all the relevant data are collected and evaluated during the inspection of the system," said Möser.
At IFAT 2014 the exhibitors of products and services for this area are located in halls B4 and B5, and on part of the open-air site. This comprehensive market review of the latest in injection, relining, trenchless and coating techniques for sewer pipe rehabilitation will cover a total of around 20,000-sq-meters of exhibition space.
