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The aging of water mains is a critical issue. The average failure age of water pipes is 53 years, and 33% of water mains are over 50 years old. This deterioration leads to frequent breaks, service disruptions, and increased maintenance costs. Traditional repair methods often involve complex procedures and are not always compatible with the diverse materials found in existing pipelines.
Aging water infrastructure in North America is affecting the water quality for end users and costing municipalities high water loss and emergency repair costs. Water breaks lead to road flooding, infrastructure damage, traffic disruptions, business downtime, and increased accidents. They can also affect the water distribution system by reducing flow and pressure.
According to the Utah State University (USU) who published a new research on water main breaks in the United States and Canada, approximately 260,000 water main breaks occur annually across the U.S. and Canada, leading to an estimated $2.6 billion in repair costs each year.
The USU study also shows that 20% or 452,000 miles of water pipes in the United States and Canada are beyond their useful lives and need to be replaced but have not been due to lack of funds. This represents a $452 billion shortfall.
In the US and Canada, 90% of installed or in-service water mains are a combination of PVC at 29%, ductile iron at 27%, cast iron at 23%, and asbestos cement at 11%. The remaining materials each represent less than 3%. Cast iron and asbestos cement pipe have the highest failure rates. PVC has the lowest overall failure rate (2.9) and cast iron had the highest (28.6) breaks/(100 mi-yr).
The typical average age of most water mains in their system when they fail is 53 years. This suggests that about a third of water mains across the United States and Canada may be at or near the age of failure.
Finally, almost 86% of water pipes in the U.S. and Canada are less than 12 in. in diameter. Smaller pipes (12-in. in diameter and less) fail five times more than larger pipes (14-in. and larger).
The estimated average water loss to leakage is 11%. Water loss is often referred to as non-revenue water (NRW) which is the difference between the water entering a distribution system and the amount billed to water consumers. NRW can also impact billing to customers. Communities with high levels of NRW often face frequent water outages and reduced water quality.
Did you know each Multi/Joint 3000 Plus comes with an easy to follow instruction guide? Learn more from Glen Steele.
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Did you know you can install a 6” Multi/Joint 3000 Plus in just 2 minutes? Learn more from Stephane Murray.
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MULTI/JOINT® 3000 Plus—designed for multi-functionality, flexibility, and wide tolerance—provides an ideal solution tailored to your needs, enhancing operational efficiency while reducing costs.
Our proven solutions cover bursts and leaks in common pipe materials, promoting cost efficiency and sustainable water management.
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