Association Updates Winter 2017: Trenchless Technology Canada

Editor’s Note: Starting with our Winter 2017 edition, Trenchless Technology Canada will feature an “Association Updates” section in every issue to highlight the happenings in the various associations across Canada related to the trenchless field. Information is provided by the associations.To submit information for our Spring 2017 edition, email Mike Kezdi, associate editor, at mkezdi@benjaminmedia.com.

NASTT British Columbia Chapter

Happy New Year from NASTT-BC! 2016 was another great year for trenchless in beautiful British Columbia and 2017 is looking even better with the return of the Trenchless Technology Road Show to British Columbia.

This Road Show is a result of a joint collaboration between the Centre for Advancement of Trenchless Technologies (CATT), Benjamin Media Inc. and NASTT-BC.

This year’s Road Show will be in the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond and will follow the same format as previous years, i.e. one day of courses followed by two days of technical presentations. But this Road Show will offer even more to choose from. The one-day courses include:

• Trenchless Technology 101


• Everything you need to Know on Pressure Pipe Design and Quality Assurance


• Trenchless Carbon Savings and Credits


• Planning Trenchless with SUE

The submission of quality abstracts has also grown this year and we are delighted to say we will have three streams of technical presentations running concurrently in 2017 (grown from two in previous years). These will cover a range of topics including assessment, rehabilitation, SUE, HDD, tunnelling and case studies.

With the change in venue also comes as bigger and better exhibition hall that will be filled with the latest and greatest from the trenchless technology world, offering great networking opportunities with industry peers. You can find more info at roadshow2017.cattevents.ca.

NASTT-BC will also be continuing our efforts to advance trenchless technologies in local British Columbia universities and colleges. In addition to our annual academic bursary, which we award to a local post-secondary student, we are seeking bright and motivated students to help start a British Columbia student chapter of NASTT.

If you know of any current post-secondary student interested in trenchless technologies, please ask them to get in contact with us at the email below.
If you want more information on our chapter and our events please contact us at NASTTBC@gmail.com.

Centre for Advancement of Trenchless Technologies

It is an honor and pleasure to announce that Jonathan Pearce joined the Centre for Advancement of Trenchless Technologies (CATT) on part-time basis effective in January.

Jonathan has recently retired from the City of Waterloo after more than 30 years of service. We have had the pleasure of working with Jonathan as a CATT volunteer and member of the CATT’s Board of Directors where he filled many positions, such as the board chair and Seminar Committee chair. He played a phenomenal role to grow seminars and workshops from a couple of courses per year to more than 10 events. Under his leadership, the Seminar Committee grew from a couple of key people to over 15 making it one of the largest and most active CATT committees. Jonathan has also been a great trenchless educator — he organized and presented at CATT’s workshops and the Ontario Good Road Association’s Trenchless Technology 101 and Inspectors’ courses. Jonathan’s leadership, enthusiasm, positive outlook, hard work and devotion to CATT and the trenchless industry has been a catalyst for CATT’s continued growth as well as the trenchless industry.

RELATED: Fleming College, CATT Create Four-Day HDD Field Course

Jonathan will lead CATT’s outreach initiatives by engaging with the municipalities and industry. He will educate the stakeholders and utilities about the benefits and cost savings resulting from building trenchless programs and getting involve with CATT. He will also assist in promoting CATT’s programs and services, such as our internationally leading education and research initiatives. Jonathan will also assist with the organization of 2017 Trenchless Technology Road Show that will be held on Sept. 25-27 in Richmond, British Columbia. This second British Columbia Trenchless Technology Road Show will have about 60 high-quality technical presentations and three parallel technical tracks. This is a big growth from the successful inaugural 2015 show which had 41 presentations with two parallel tracks. As CATT’s Conference Committee chair, Jonathan will also lead the 2018 Trenchless Technology Road Show scheduled for May 15-17, in London, Ontario. CATT will be looking for interested volunteers to help with both the British Columbia and Ontario Trenchless Technology Road Shows.

CATT and the trenchless industry are fortunate to have dedicated, hard-working people like Jonathan. Please welcome him in his new role. Contact Jonathan should you have questions about CATT’s programs and services.

We would like to thank all our members and volunteers for their continued support and hard work. We are making a difference in the industry and we are very excited about 2017. Stay tuned for announcements about new industry-leading initiatives. Keep up to date at cattevents.ca.

Consortium for Engineered Trenchless Technologies

The Consortium for Engineered Trenchless Technologies (CETT) at the University of Alberta hosted a one-day workshop focused on water and wastewater pipeline condition assessment and rehabilitation.

The Feb. 16 workshop brought leading industry and municipality experts together to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing the water and wastewater pipeline sector today. Speakers presented a comprehensive overview of water and wastewater pipeline condition assessment and rehabilitation alternatives and introduce a variety of tools and technologies for pipeline inspection, condition monitoring, and trenchless rehabilitation. Speakers were: Dr. Ali Bayat, University of Alberta; Dr. Hamid Zaman, City of Edmonton; Dr. John Matthews, Pure Technologies; Chris Macey, AECOM; George Bontus, AEGION and Kate Kirk, EPCOR.

RELATED: NASTT-NW Chapter Promotes Industry in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan

In other CETT news:

• The University of Alberta NASTT student chapter attended the Northwest Trenchless Conference presented by the NASTT Northwest chapter, Chao Kang, CETT postdoctoral fellow, gave a presentation on “Development of a New Laboratory Test to Assess Clogging Potential.”


• CETT completed a two-year study with the City of Edmonton on tunnel boring machine (TBM) clogging and sticky clay, which led to the development of a new apparatus and test procedure for clogging. To present this research, CETT hosted a half-day workshop with the City of Edmonton to discuss sticky clay and TBM research.


• Our NASTT students have been conducting research and field experiments with TELUS Communications to determine the best methods and materials to install and backfill micro-trenches, specifically in cold-climate regions. This work will enable TELUS to install fibre optic cables to homes and businesses without the risk and expense of open-cut methods. CETT’s contributions are part of TELUS’s plans to replace their old copper wire network with fibre optic cables to deliver faster and more reliable internet to Canadians.


• The Tunnelling Association of Canada (TAC) has been named as CETT’s newest member. This collaboration intends to target today’s greatest trenchless construction challenges. TAC’s contribution will help support CETT’s ongoing research, maximize the impact of our research, better identify industry needs, and provide current and future professionals with quality education.


• Recent publications by CETT members include:
  “ Annular Fluid Pressure Estimation during Pilot Boring in Horizontal Directional Drilling using the Bingham Plastic Flow Model”
  “ Efficient Drilling in HDD by Implementing the Concept of Specific Energy”
  “ Case Study of Pipeline Installation using the a Modified Guided Boring Method”
  “ Comparison of Different Methods for Normal Stress Calculation during Pipe Jacking/Microtunnelling”

 NASTT Great Lakes, St. Lawrence & Atlantic Chapter

The Great Lakes, St. Lawrence & Atlantic (GLSLA) Chapter of NASTT was established in 1995 and represents the Eastern Canadian perspective of the trenchless technology marketplace. GLSLA members are from Ontario, Quebec and the four Atlantic provinces.

The GLSLA board of directors and member volunteers are continuing to work to provide value to our members through training, publications and our web site. GLSLA also continues to provide important support for NASTT programs, including the Municipal Scholarship, silent auction and student scholarships. We would like to congratulate GLSLA members who were awarded a municipal scholarship for the 2017 NASTT No-Dig Show.

In coordination with NASTT, GLSLA hosted a successful CIPP Good Practices course in Hamilton on Jan.18, 2017 with more than 25 attendees. Thanks to our two trainers, Chris Macey and Kevin Bainbridge, for a great session. GLSLA will be hosting another CIPP good practices course in Halifax May 10, in partnership with NASTT and ACWWA. Stay up-to-date on training opportunities and other events on our web site at glsla.ca.

For more information on GLSLA, our events and our training sessions, please visit our website at glsla.ca.

NASTT Northwest Chapter

Continuing again this year, the NASTT Northwest Chapter will be presenting its Technical Lunch Program in both Edmonton and Calgary. This program provides a venue for our members to learn from each others accomplishments and from suppliers/manufacturers about new innovative products. During the first half of the year, there will be three Technical Lunches occurring in Edmonton and two in Calgary. For further information on these events, please refer to the Chapter’s events webpage, nastt-nw.com.

RELATED: WaterTAP Highlighted at Biennial Trenchless Technology Road Show

The Chapter is commencing the planning of the 2017 Northwest Trenchless Conference, which will take place in Calgary in November. Please watch the Chapter’s web page for upcoming announcements.

Additionally our chapter is working on the development of a Membership Committee that will be working to develop and build relationships between existing members and potential new members. The Memberships Committee’s primary goal will be to grow our membership, introduce and educate our organization to new members on the advantages and possibilities made available through trenchless technology. For more information, email gtippett@nastt-nw.com.

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