When Engineers, Contractors, and Manufacturers Collaborate ‒ Improvements in Chemical Grouting Practices from the Sullivan’s Island Sewer Rehab Construction Management at Risk Project

Chemical grouting has been widely implemented as a sewer repair technology for more than five decades; unfortunately, often incorrectly. This is largely due to a poor understanding by engineers and owners regarding important design and field variables, key field performance needs, and the need of contractors to compete in a low price market while complying with ill-informed specifications and ill-conceived pay bases.This paper presents new key findings regarding the design and implementation of chemical grouting for I&I leakage control as revealed during the Construction Management at Risk (CMAR) sewer rehabilitation project in Sullivan’s Island, SC. This alternative project delivery work featured a remarkable collaboration between engineering, contracting, and manufacturing that significantly furthered the practical science of chemical grouting as a technology for structurally stabilizing and significantly reducing leakage over an extended period of time from gravity sewer pipes.