Cempipe Arrives in North America

Cempipe B.V. of the Netherlands has announced theformation of Cempipe Americas, which will bring Cempipe’s patented technologyfor trenchless structural rehabilitation of water mains to the U.S. and Canadianmarkets.
Cempipe made the announcement at the March No-Dig conference thatwas held in Nashville, Tenn.

Cempipe Americas will be headquartered in Golden, Colo.,with E.J. Olbright as its president and Harry Baum, who has more than 26 yearsof experience with pipe installation and trenchless pipe rehabilitation, servingas executive vice president. The company will employ a series of selectedregional licensees to install the product for local water utilities.

“Due to our aging water infrastructure, there has been areal need in the U.S. and Canadian markets for this type of product,” saidOlbright. “With thousands of miles of aging and degrading water utilities aroundthe country, Cempipe offers water utilities a minimally intrusive and verycost-effective way to add improved water service quality and restored flowcapacities to their infrastructure.”

Invented by longtime trenchless pipe pioneer Peter Woodin the United Kingdom, Cempipe uses a precise cleaning and evaluation process toassess the suitability of the water main for relining. Once the pipe isprepared, a liner tube is pulled through the pipe and a special mix of cementgrout is injected into the space between the tube and the pipe wall and it ispressurized. When the relining process is complete, the rehabilitated pipe willbe leak-free and ready for pressurized potable water delivery.

The process and materials are completely safe fordrinking water, as certified to Drinking Water Institute 56.4.403 and NSF 61standards. The product is currently available for water lines 3 to 12 in. indiameter.