Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association Launches Contest for Infrastructure Awareness

The Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association is asking for your photos of water main breaks or repairs as part of a new contest and campaign to bring awareness to our aging infrastructure.

The association has encouraged its more than 9,000 Facebook followers to shoot pictures of water main breaks or repairs in their local communities and submit them as contest entries to win an iPad.  For contest details, visit the Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association’s page on Facebook.

“Our Facebook campaign is a chance for those inconvenienced every day across North America by costly water main breaks to speak out and draw attention to the waste and inefficiency caused by corrosion-prone piping and the need to use more durable and cost-effective pipe materials like PVC for our water infrastructure,” said association executive director Bruce Hollands.

The goal of the campaign is to create more awareness of our nation’s decaying water infrastructure. More than 850 water main breaks happen each day in North America and the majority of pipes that need to be replaced are failing primarily because of aging, corrosion-prone iron pipes of the post 1950s. The corrosion epidemic is a tremendous drag on the economy, costing U.S. drinking water and wastewater systems over $50.7 billion annually. You can read more about the problem at www.watermainbreakclock.com.

According to Hollands, sustainable, corrosion-proof technologies like PVC offer a cost-efficient solution to water main breaks but unfortunately PVC often faces barriers to bidding from city and local governments that have outdated, closed procurement practices. They opt instead for a band-aid approach of repairing or replacing our water mains with the same outdated and inferior pipes that don’t withstand time or the elements — a tremendous waste of money, he said. 

All photographs received will be posted together in a Photo Gallery on the association’s Facebook page on Feb. 1, 2012, with the winner determined through voting by its Facebook followers. Only contestants and voters who are Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association Facebook followers are eligible to participate.  Photo submission deadline is Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Voting will take place between Feb. 1-13. The winner will be announced on Feb. 15.