All too often, in seeking to keep things affordable for their customer base, municipal leaders get hung up on the initial costs of an infrastructure project instead of looking at the long-term price tag.
One unifying factor for both the general public, but also for many of us who vote for, manage and design infrastructure projects, is that water and wastewater projects can feel as though they are out of sight, out of mind. Buried pipe systems are easy to forget – until they break.
It’s another axiom that pipes will break – nothing is infallible. But project managers, municipal engineers and utility professionals use their extensive knowledge of both water systems and materials to recommend to decision-makers the best pipes for their community. The better suited the pipe is to its environment and the stronger the construction material, the better chance the pipe has of withstanding natural and other stressors.
