COST EFFECTIVE REHABILITATION OF PRIVATE SEWER LATERALS

This paper presents the findings of a two-year study for the Water Environment Research Foundation on the Cost Effective Rehabilitation of Private Sewer Laterals. This project examined a variety of issues pertaining to decision-making for sewer laterals and the inspection and rehabilitation work required. Data collection for the project included a comprehensive questionnaire on sewer laterals responded to by 58 municipalities (almost all from North America). Well documented, quantitative data on the effectiveness of lateral rehabilitation was not widely available but the data that was collected shows that laterals can represent a significant percentage of inflow and infiltration into municipal sewer systems. The paper briefly summarizes the inspection, inflow removal and rehabilitation techniques available in North America and describes the financial and legal issues faced in connection with work on private property. These latter issues — the ability to spend public funds on work that benefits private owners, the need to persuade private property owners to participate in the program, the liability issues associated with doing work on private property, etc. are important issues to many municipalities and discourage them from tackling the problems of private sewer laterals. Case studies from municipalities across North America have been collected and will be summarized and data on inflow and infiltration removal from pilot programs will be presented.