NASSCO Marks 50th Anniversary in Service to the Trenchless Industry

2026 marks the 50th anniversary of NASSCO — a premier trenchless organization that has elevated and strengthened the trenchless industry in training, education and funding influence.

Boasting nearly 600 member companies today representing thousands of individuals who participate in NASSCO, the association took root with modest goals: to provide a voice for sewer service companies, most directly those in grouting, sliplining, joint testing and sewer system evaluation survey (SSES), while also creating standards for their work and inspection practices.

Four men — Ray Bahr Jr., Bill Thompson, Will Naylor and Jim Monaghan — had a simple vision. What they started would become far more than they could have imagined. On July 6, 1976, as the nation was still knee-deep in celebrating its bicentennial, NASSCO held its first-ever meeting in Washington, D.C., marking the beginning of what would become a driving force in the trenchless industry.

The National Association of Sewer Service Companies — today simply known as NASSCO — may have had modest beginnings but has since grown into so much more than the founding quartet could have ever envisioned at that first meeting. Today, NASSCO stands as one of the trenchless industry’s most influential organizations.

A Foundation for Growth

Its members are more than sewer service contractors but now include manufacturers and suppliers, engineers and, perhaps more importantly and impressively, utility owners, agencies and municipalities — the recipients of trenchless applications. The trenchless applications NASSCO represents in 2026 runs the gamut from pipe relining to CCTV to software to laterals and much more. NASSCO now has growing footprints in Canada, as well as South and Central Americas, with a partnership agreement with ISTT to reach a global audience through NASSCO certifications.

Though the association weathered difficult financial years early in its history, facing the possibility of closing, those challenges have become little more than a footnote in NASSCO’s history. And marked a significant change in how the association operates today, putting processes in place that provide for growth and stability.

The list continues to grow. And the association started with the vision of those four men.
“We owe them so much gratitude,” says NASSCO executive director Sheila Joy. “I think about them often and am so grateful to these four people who decided that there was a need.”

NASSCO 2026 president Tad Powell wholeheartedly agrees.

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