105 Decker Court, Suite 825Irving, Texas 75062Phone: 469.499.1044www.PlasticPipe.org BU I LD ING COMMUNITY
NEW GLASGOW, Nova Scotia -When your goal is tobe true to your town’s 135-year-old motto, ‘Let NewGlasgow Flourish’, one of the first places you start is byrebuilding the infrastructure. Andit’s not just a phrase; it’s a wayoflifeandpathofguidanceforthemayor,towncouncilandresidentsofthistown. The latest project focused onthose ambitions is a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO)programforthetownofnearly10,000toremovestormwaterfromitssanitarysewersystem.The installation of new storm sew-ers for 12 streets and upgradingof 12 pumping stations will helpremove the storm water from thesewer system and make the EastRiver Environmental Control Centreoperatemoreefficiently. “We are upgrading our infra-structure every chance we get be-cause it’s important,” stated BarrieMacMillan, Mayor of New Glasgow.“We want to separate the stormwater and we’re doing that at acoupleofareaswithinthetown.Themajor area being upgraded is atidalestuaryforsaltandfreshwater,and is the centerpiece of our riverfront revitalization.This combined sewer overflow reduction is a critical
projectforusonanumberoflevels.” “Today, this is a prime concern for the majority ofmunicipalities across North America” observed Tony
Radoszewski, executive director ofthePlasticsPipeInstitute,Inc.(PPI),a non-profit trade association thatpromotesplasticpipe. “Inthepast,rainwaterflowedintothesanitarysewersystemandwas
then treated. Extra storm water would, during timesof a heavy rain, create an overflow. This Combined
SewerOverflowgenerallydischargedinto a nearby water body. Withthe latest EPA Phase II require-mentsintheUnitedStatesandsimilarregulations approved by the Cana-dian Council of Ministers of the En-vironment in 2009, controlling andmanagingstormwaterrunoffisimper-ative,notonlyforthegoodandwel-fareofpeople,butalsotomeetthesenew governmental standards,” Ra-doszewski continued.“New Glasgowhas found the way. Their programisacuttingedgeblueprintforsuccess-fulstormwaterqualityimprovementsthat deliver to federal Canadianmandates requiring the reduction of
to us and that is why we were early adopters ofimprovingandprotectingtheriverquality. “Therearemany,manyoldindus-trial towns like New Glasgow thatcan benefit from environmental ini-tiatives. New Glasgow was foundedasashipbuildingandrailcarmanu-facturing town and now we’re mak-ing wind turbines. We’re the firstmunicipality to install itsownwind-mill that is also actually made here.Old industrial towns such as NewGlasgow cannot exhaust their natu-ral resources. They must capitalizeon them. We’ve been using our en-vironment and revitalization proj-ects to support business and to draw large companiestoourcityandtoPictouCounty.Wehaveatremendousspirit of entrepreneurship that is accelerated by doingtherightthing. “Beinggoodstewardsoftheenvironmentmakesgoodsensefromanumberofperspectives.Ifyoumaintainthe
qualityoftheriver,yourresidentswillenjoyitandithelpsto attract new residents and businesses. We have chal-
lenges with a declining populationso we must work hard to keep andattract people to our area. By insur-ingthatourriversareclean,ourwa-terisgreat,havingthebestfacilities,being environmentally responsible,embracing wind energy and look-ing to renewable and sustainableproducts,weareprovidingthehigh-est quality of life at the lowest pos-sible cost for our residents and em-ployers.Forus,thisisgoodlong-termurbanplanning. “At the end it’s about using the
right products and making sure that if there’s bettertechnology out there, you take a good look at it.That’s what we try and do. We tested what we saw asa product that could provide greater advantages forus, and it does work well for us. HDPE pipe is prettyamazingstuff.”
Large diameter corrugated HDPE pipe was buried underneath roads in New Glasgow
for its CSO Project.
Above: images of the beautiful town of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.
NewGlasgowhasseentheeffectsofweatherpatternchanges and recently experienced more severe storms.A few years ago the north coastal city was pounded byseveral 100-year storms, which resulted in flooding ofthedowntownarea.Eventheflowvolumefromsmallerstormsduetothecombinedsewerandstormwatersystemwouldover-load the treatment plant. It was in 2009thatthecitydecidedtotakeacloserlookatthecausesandfindasolutiontoitscom-binedsewersystem. A task force led by Bob Funke, P.Eng.,who was then the town’s chief engineer,determineditwastimetoconstructatrunklineextendingfromthedowntownareatotheriverandinterceptasecondarysewerthatwascausingfloodinginanotherpartoftown. “We did a fairly good amount of in-vestigation to determine the storm sewer shed areas,”Funke explained, “and pinpointed two different ar-eas where a trunk sewer line would cause positive re-duction of combined storm sewer overflow. We sizedthe pipe, and found corrugated high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE) pipe provides a decided advantage,and is significantly better than the concrete pipe. “Looking at the water volumes and the various fric-tion losseswiththevariouspipesled us to using 900mm (36-inch)diameter HDPE pipe which en-abledustosaveadiameterortwoby using it instead of concrete.TheHDPEpipehasveryfavorableManning’s rating which means abetter friction loss.This was criti-cal because we had some deepcutsofbetweentwelve tofifteenfeetandinsomecasesourslopeswere one percent or less. Whenyou are designing a sewer sepa-ration project to be installed intight quarters, you have to lookatthesmallestdiameterpipethatcan deliver the largest volumeof water. If you can take a halfsize off that, six inches means alot to the construction crew. WewouldnothavebeenabletodothisprojectwithouttheHDPE pipe.” Some 740m (2400 feet) of pipe was used. Contractor DanTupper ofTupper Excavating furtherexplained the situation for the McLean Street project.“When you’re 15 feet in the ground between sewers,
water mains and underneath high voltage lines and allthe fiber optic conduits we have today and digging inandaroundthoseareasinverytightrealestate,youwantthesmallestpipepossible.TheHDPEpipemadeitpretty
simpleforus. “Theabilitytothreadthispipethroughvery difficult areas was a key consider-ation. Concrete pipe is big and comes ineight-footlengths.Ifyouhavehalfastreetopenandyoucandropina20-footlengthofHDPEpipeandeasilygetitfilledintime–that’sthreelengthsofconcretepipeandwe couldn’t get larger sizes of concretepipeunderneathsomeofthetightareas.” The McLean Street section of New
“Whenyou’redownintheground15-18feetandyouhave to deal with 4-5 feet of tide, you get into a mess.For about 1,000 feet we were fighting tidal water, andinafewsituationsweweredownin10-12feetofwater. “Weconstructedadamattheriverwhichhelped.Wepumped that down below the river level but we couldonlyholdbackaboutfivefeetofwater.Oncethetidegotoverthatlevelandthewaterstartedsquirtingaroundthe
ground,wehadtoabandonuntilthenexttidewhichwas12hourslater. Still, we were able to movesafely and quickly getting in twoorthreelengthsaday. Wefoundit easy to use the HDPE pipe anddidn’t have any problem with it.Plus it’s tough and it’s versatile.” “Overtheyearswe’vebecomemore confident in using plasticpipe,”saidFunke.“Wehadexperi-ence when it started coming onthe market here in Nova Scotiaas a culvert pipe and it’s becomeastandardreplacementformetalculvert pipe. Concrete was alsobeing used, but for some ofour applications it was difficult.The stubby pipe lengths areheavy and are not exactly easy
toinstall.TheHDPEpipehas20-footlengthsthatgoto-gether easily. Plus the HDPE pipe enabled us to getthe flow rate we needed in a smaller diameter pipe.What the Institute [PPI] preaches about the benefitsof plastic pipe is true. The contractors love it and
mostwouldn’tuseanythingelse.” The pipe used was a double walled (smooth inside,ribbedoutside)corrugatedHDPEpipefromSolenocalledSolflo®Maxandmanufactured lo-cally at the Soleno McAdam, NewBrunswick plant. The Solflo MaxcorrugatedHDPEpipemeetsASTMstandards for F405 and F667, andcomplieswithCanadianStandardsAssociation, CAN/CSA B182.6. So-leno is a member company ofthePPI. “When you dig up concretepipe after a period of time, it of-ten has cracks caused by acidsin the rain and water, plus saltwater and chemicals - pH andacidity,” PPI’s Radoszewski stated.“HDPE can withstand these attacks. Acids and salt inthe water will eat concrete. This is a significant consid-eration for any project, and critical for the enduranceandsuccessofthisprojectnearthewater. “HDPEpipeisinerttotheseprob-lems.Andonthesystemdesignend,when you have a 20-foot section ofpipe compared to an eight-foot one,there are fewer joints. Having fewerjoints reduces the chance of leaks;plus, HDPE joints are water-tight. “This particular job had a num-ber of challenges, including salt andfreshwatercomingtogether,ahighlysaline environment, tight installa-tionandeventighterbudgets.HDPEpipewasthekeytomeetingthegoalfor the mayor and this project,”Radoszewskiconcluded. “The plastic pipe is very interest-ing,” summed up Mayor MacMillan.“It’s interesting because it seems tobeabetterproductandissustainable.Our engineer told me the thing thathe likedabout itwas that itprovidedagood,tightsealaroundthemanhole.My engineering department is veryconfidentabouttheplasticpipe.We’reveryhappywiththecontractorinstall-ingitand,mostimportantly,theprojectiswithinbudget.It’sgoodallthewayaround.”
More of the Mayors Perspective “Wehaveaveryprogressivetowncouncil,whichI’mproud to lead,” he stated. “New Glasgow has continu-
ally been at the forefront of thegreen movement in Nova Scotia.During the past few years we’vedone a lot of projects, includingthe storm and sanitary sewerseparationprogram.We’reasmallmunicipality just under 10,000people in rural Nova Scotia, somoney doesn’t come very easily.That means that every time youget an infrastructure project youneed to make the most of thefundsyouhaveforit.
“A reduction in the CombinedSewerOverflow(CSO)isoneofthe
majorgreeninitiativeswe’vetakenonrecently.We’vealsoconstructed state-of-the-art water treatment facilities,andwehaveanexcellentsewerageprocessingplantthathasproducedahighlevelofsewagetreatmentsince1972.
Today,wecontinuetoexceedthewa-terqualitystandardsinCanada. “We want to lead the way envi-ronmentally, with a strong focus onthequalityofourwater.Thisincludesvery, very low leakage rates, a highdegreeofsewagetreatment,andtheCSO reduction program. I feel NewGlasgow is well ahead of the newnational standards which many mu-nicipalities in this country will bestruggling to now attain. But we’vebeen there for quite a while and wehave a lot of other green initiativesthatwe’redoingforasmalltown.Weare really making a dent in drivingdown our CO2 limits and improvingourwaterquality. “There’s a business case to bemadeforproperenvironmentalstew-ardship.Ifyouhavethehighestqual-ity of water and the lowest possibleleakage,you’reabletodeliveraqual-ity product and your people like it.They’reproudofit.
“Inourareawehaveabeautiful riverthatrunsrightthroughthemiddleofourtown,theEastRiverofPictou,which is the centerpiece of our community. New Glas-gow is the place where we want to live. The river andthe surrounding natural environment are important
New Glasgow’s combined sewer reduction project was on grade, on budget and on time.
Mayor Barrie MacMillan is a
progressive visionary who sees the benefits environmental programs can bring to his city. He was elected mayor in 2008, and served as the executive
director of the Pictou County Chamber for Commerce for 19 years.
“HDPE pipe enabled us to get the flow rate we needed in a smaller diameter pipe.”
- Bob Funke, P. Eng.
Installation of 900mm (36-inch) diameter corrugated HDPE pipe under phone
and internet utility cables and water mains was typical for this project.
