Dozens of similar incidents coast to coast have not only triggered headaches, nausea and evacuations but also sparked claims of lasting injuries and even death caused by noxious fumes from an increasingly popular pipeline rehabilitation procedure. Cured-in-place pipe lining creates a new pipe inside an old one by inserting a soft, resin-soaked liner into a damaged pipe, inflating it with pressurized air, then heating it so it hardens. It costs about eight times less than a traditional pipe rehabilitation project and eliminates the need to dig up streets, reroute traffic or haul away debris. And it has been used on hundreds of millions of feet of underground infrastructure – a figure expected to grow as the nation races to rehab its aging water and sewer lines.
March 31, 2023