TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: In a bid to reduce and possibly phase out digging of roads which caused traffic and pedestrian nightmares, the Public Works Department is exploring the possibility of procuring the new pipe bursting technology for replacing old sewerage lines in Panjim.
The new technology is a trenchless method of replacing any buried pipelines eliminating the traditional construction trench. Launching and receiving pits replace the trench needed by conventional pipe-laying. Officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) informed that pipe bursting technology was tested in Vasco over a five kilometers stretch and has worked successfully.
Sewerage lines in Panjim, which are due for replacement and under the JNNURM scheme are likely to be replaced by using pipe bursting technology.
“This technology works through a system of crushing the old lines and simultaneously drawing a new line,” explained D S Borkar Chief Engineer-I who heads the PWD’s sanitation division.
According to Borkar this technology also reduces time taken by digging and work of replacing sewerage lines on a stretch of 100 meters can be completed in one hour.
This technology is expected to work well for areas such as Miramar and those areas having sandy soil.
Sources said that the pipe bursting technology would facilitate easy crushing of old sewerage lines in Panjim of asbestos cement and laying of new lines of High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE).
“As there are not many joints in the new pipelines the flow of sewerage is also smoother, quicker and prevents leakages,” Borkar said.
Borkar said that the PWD is exploring the possibility of introducing the new technology against the old one and is also considering an underground study of the old sewerage networking using the ‘probe’ method before it finalized the PBT for Panjim’s new sewerage lines. He said that the PBT is a success in replacing all those pipelines of asbestos cement and stone were mostly used in the past for sewerage lines. While this technology could also be used for replacing water supply lines, the application of the PBT takes longer in case old lines are of hard metal.
Meanwhile, the PWD has hastened laying of new sewerage lines at Taleigao and Dona Paula. Digging of roads and laying of new sewerage lines at Caranzalem have been completed.
