Supporting hygiene best practice in pipeline maintenance

It's #TechnicalTuesday so Hamish Ridley is discussing a recent #teamWRc investment to support water quality and hygiene best practice when maintaining pipe networks.

In recent years, with an increase in regulation and a focus on water quality, water companies have continued to be more stringent towards maintenance best practice on clean water Trunk main and distribution networks. In order to work on the network, all operators have to pass strict water hygiene training and all tools, equipment and products coming into contact with potable water have to be Reg 31 approved. A new thought process of “food grade mentality” is being applied to all works on the distribution network with aspirations to have the same standard of hygiene that you would find in a food factory.

This is no easy task; can you imagine if we told a popular soft drinks manufacturer that they could only deliver their product to customers through a complicated network of ageing underground pipes? Furthermore, can you imagine their horror if they found out they could only maintain their distribution system from inside a muddy hole - whilst it's raining!

WRc Group support this approach and recently made a significant investment in a large crawler system for condition assessment work solely in potable water environments. Our VersaTrax 320 crawler from Eddyfi Technologies is capable of surveys up to 1km in length, rated to 6 bar and is fitted with the Sahara system’s proprietary tracking device, which works in any pipe material and allows the position of anything found inside the pipeline to be marked on the surface for further action. This is a particularly suitable tool when undertaking lining works where pre and post surveys are recommended.

Learn more about WRc's Pipe Crawler services here.