Middlebury Ice Pigging Results

Aldrich + Elliott, PC, Utility Services, and the Town of Middlebury worked together to successfully utilize this new pipe cleaning technology called “ice pigging”. In October 2013 ice pigging was performed on the Town’s Main Pump Station sewer forcemain consisting of approximately 12,000 l.f. of 16″ and 18″ D.I. and PVC pipe. Aldrich + Elliott, PC provided coordination and daily assessment of the pumping capacity to track the results of the ice pigging. The project was very successful in that the pump station and forcemain were returned to the original design hydraulic capacity of 6.2 mgd. By cleaning the forcemain with the ice pigging, the friction loss was decreased, resulting in an approximate 0.64 mgd (444 gpm) or + 11% increase in flow.

This Chart shows the actual flow readings attained through ice pigging at the Main Pump Station. Aldrich + Elliott, PC and the Town are working to develop a procedure through changes in the pump controls to increase the pumping velocities in the forcemain to maintain the capacity at the original 6.2 mgd. Aldrich + Elliott, PC, Utility Services and the Town of Middlebury are working collaboratively to write a case study for this successful project and plan to present it at the 2014 Spring GMWEA conference. Stay tuned for more details in the spring.

Contact A+E if you’d like more information on this innovative solution.