American Gas - November 2010 - (Page 12)

SAfEty fiRSt safet y | securit y | reliabilit y Utilities Address Unmarked Sewer Lines An AGA white paper shares practices and collaborative strategies to try to prevent cross bores. sAfety is unequivocally the top priority for natural gas pipeline operators. Any natural gas incident, no matter the size, is an incident too many, and we are consistently working to make sure we learn from any incidents that occur so that we continue to improve upon the safety record of the natural gas industry. Unfortunately, during the past 10 years, pipeline incidents have occurred in the United states in which “cross bores” were involved. However, a homeowner may eventually experience a blockage in his or her sanitary sewer line, triggering a call to a plumber, whose first instinct may be to send a cutting tool into the sewer line to clear the blockage. When the cutting tool punctures the natural gas line, the gas follows the sewer line and may migrate back into the home. This natural gas–sanitary sewer line challenge could be far-reaching. “Many larger communities have more than 1,000 miles of sewer, the largest having [more than] 6,000 miles,” reported Mark Bruce, president of Can Clay Corp. and a board member of the Cross Bore Safety Association, in his paper “Eliminating Utility Cross Bores Gains Momentum.” In an effort to continue its outstanding overall safety record, the natural gas industry is focusing resources on identifying smart practices to prevent the incidence of cross bores and educating all involved parties. Putting Practices on Paper At recent committee meetings, AGA members have extensively discussed the general practices gas utilities might follow when using directional drilling and other forms of trenchless technologies to install mains and services, particularly in the vicinity of unmarked sewer lines. Through the AGA Operations Conference, committee meetings and audio conferences, AGA members have shared successful company practices and procedures they have developed to address this situation. As a result, several AGA member companies have amended their operating manuals so that efforts are made to verify the location of the sewer lines before using directional drilling. In April 2010, the Operating Section issued an industry white paper, “Natural Gas Pipelines and Unmarked Sewer Lines – A Damage Prevention Partnership.” AGA encourages utility personnel to read the paper by visiting www.aga.org/Committees/gotocommittee pages/distconstructionandmaint. The paper: Identifies key issues and contains some practices and actions that utilities can take independently to try to mitigate the threat of A cross bore occurs when the existing underground utility or structure is unintentionally intersected during the installation of a second utility, possibly resulting in a loss of integrity in one or both of the utilities. While the utilities involved may include electric and communication lines, for the purposes of this article we’ll focus on cross bores concerning natural gas and sanitary sewer lines. Because sanitary sewer lines usually are not marked during the one-call process, and they often are made of material difficult to locate by traditional means (such as with metal detectors), the threat of boring through a sewer is magnified for crews using directional drilling to install their lines. A cross-bore situation involving natural gas can exist for years without anyone realizing it. 12 NOVEMBER 2010 AmericAn GAs http://www.aga.org/Committees/gotocommittee/pages/distcconstructionandmaint http://www.aga.org/Committees/gotocommittee/pages/distcconstructionandmaint

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - November 2010

American Gas - November 2010
Contents
President’s Message
Industry News
Safety First
Ask AGA
Customers’ Top Energy Challenges—Solved
Making the Most of Social Media
Company Profiles
Places to Be
Marketplace
Advertisers’ Index
Noteworthies
Jobline
Facts on Gas

American Gas - November 2010