On March 26, 2010, a group of water utility personnel and several students from Gateway Community College School of Water Management traveled to Atlantic States Pipe Foundry for a tour of facilities and lecture on pipe manufacture and ductile iron pipe installation. The trip was hosted by Ferguson Water Works of Newington, Conn., and the Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. of Phillipsburg, N.J. Utilities represented included the Metropolitan District Commission, Connecticut Water, Middletown Water, Hazardville Water Co., Colchester Water and Fire Departments, Regional Water Authority, Bristol Water Department, Groton Utilities, Aquarion and East Hampton Water and Sewer.
The bus arrived and greetings were extended to all. A brief presentation on pipe manufacture was provided to attendees in the Atlantic Training Facility and then attendees were broken up into groups of eight and were coupled with a pipe manufacturing expert.
The tour included the raw metal/materials yard, melting and the metallurgy lab, the furnace area, the pipe casting area, annealing and quality lab, the cement lining area and final bituminous paint coating and labeling. Questions were fielded by the tour guides throughout the tour and questions ranged from type of cement to VOC vs. water based coatings.
After lunch Ken Rickvalsky, product engineer for Atlantic, gave a lecture on pipe installation and various problems encountered.
Source: Colchester Water Department
