Underground Construction - February 2019 - 12

21st Annual Municipal Survey
cy knowledge and skills without
finding adequate replacements,"
complained a Northeast municipal employee.
Getting "qualified operators to
replace workers who will be retiring," is also an ongoing problem
said this Mid-Atlantic representative.
Observed a respondent from
the Pacific Northwest, "we have a
hard time attracting new, young
talent to the municipal field."
Other issues mentioned were
problems in achieving "completion of very complex construction
projects on-time and on-budget,"
reported this Southwest respondent. "New regulations and the
EPA/DEQ," was also cited as an
ongoing issue by this municipal
representative from the upper
Midwest.
Regulations and "dealing
with the EPA" was repeated frequently by several other survey
respondents.
Municipalities rated several broad categories as to how
much of an impact each had on
their operations. As discussed
earlier, funding remained the
number-one concern, with 80
percent of the respondents. Regulations and the EPA were cited
by 70 percent of the respondents;
hiring qualified employees was
mentioned by 40 percent; safety
concerns by 40 percent; and community relations by 30 percent.
Rate increases for user fees
have historically been very hard
to push through local governing
agencies. However, desperate
times require desperate measures
and city governments find themselves without options - they
must raise their rates in order to
keep systems functioning. Survey
respondents reported an average
of 2.9 years between rate hikes,
down from 3.1 a year ago.
Asset management continues
to gain traction with America's
cities. More than 44 percent of
America's cities report having a

FEBRUARY 2019 | UConOnline.com

When Using Trenchless Methods, how often are the
following technologies used:
CIPP

51%

Point repairs

42%

Spray-type coatings

30%

Pipe bursting

28%

Chemical root control

26%

HDD

25%

Lateral lining

20%

Sliplining
Pipe ramming
Folded pipe

17%

Rating engineers,
contractors

8%
7%

Microtunneling 2%

Regardless of possible boosts in funding
appropriations, whether from national or
state levels, the need for expanded spending
exists and the local citizenry is increasingly
vocal in concerns for dependable and
efficient sewer or water systems to be
in place. The Flint, Mich., contamination
disaster clearly elevated public awareness
for potable water systems - especially if any
lead pipes are involved
program fully in place, while 34
percent have a program in development. Roughly 22 percent
have no plans to implement an
underground asset management
program at this time.
As mentioned earlier, trenchless rehabilitation is still experiencing a solid growth curve. More
and more products are entering

Another interesting side note
is that about 50 percent of those
surveyed commented that they
prefer to use trenchless methods
when feasible, while 30 percent
said it didn't matter to them, and
20 percent still prefer open-cut
methods.
"For us, trenchless versus
open-cut is a site-by-site decision," said a Midwest muni
manager. "Cost is an issue," said a
Mid-Atlantic respondent.
"Depends on the location
and situation," pointed out this
respondent from the upper Midwest. "Trenchless works very well
in the right circumstance."

the market place or existing products are getting more refined.
Expertise in various technologies
by both municipal and contractor
personnel have also acted to improve the value of rehabilitation.
Cities estimate that roughly 56
percent of the pipe repairs today
are performed with trenchless
rehab.

The survey asked municipal personnel to rate the consulting engineering community. An overall
rating was a composite from
four categories: quality of work,
timely project completion, fair
pricing and dependability, based
on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best).
The consulting engineer's score
for 2019 was 3.9 compared to 3.7
in 2018. That represents another
big jump in confidence levels for
engineers, who for several years
were languishing at 3.0 or lower.
But over the past few surveys,
consultants' ratings have steadily
climbed.
When asked what are the most
important values they look for
in engineering firms, quality was
the near-unanimous choice cited
by municipal mangers. Other
areas included "understanding of
new technology" (80 percent of
respondents), "cost" (70 percent
of respondents), and "productive
relationships with contractors"
(25 percent).
Municipal personnel were also
asked to suggest how engineers
could do a better job for sewer
and water agencies. A municipal
employee from the Pacific North-

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Underground Construction - February 2019

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