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Note From The Editor |
Greetings,
We just completed the first-ever McElroy Road Show. The Road Show showcased a variety of machines, including the new DynaMc Hand Pump series, PolyHorse with PowerAssist, Low Profile Rollers, Stub End Holders, Hydraulic Clamping Retrofit Kits, and much more.
Hauling new products around the United States and Canada was no easy chore, nor were the travels some attendees undertook to see the new products at one of the 27 Road Show stops. At each stop, McElroy personnel, distributor personnel, and attendees alike had meaningful discussions about how each piece of equipment could benefit various infrastructures within North America.
Robert Thomas, an engineer with Dominion, was an attendee that traveled three hours from Pennsylvania to the Morain Sales & Service stop in Mineral Ridge, Ohio. After spending some time exploring the new products, understanding their functions, and asking a few questions, Thomas stated that the six hours of travel time was “well worth it.”
A funny thing happened over those thousands of miles – the Road Show somehow jumped the pond. For instance, Gabriel Quero of Agruquero began promoting McElroy fusion across Spain and Portugal with an Automated TracStar 412. Visits to Murcia and Valencia, Spain, attracted more than 50 attendees from water and other industries to each event.
Approximately 5,000 miles to the south of Spain, Rho-Tech held an improvised Road Show in South Africa. The new international distributor showcased popular McElroy models and even held a classroom-style session for interested attendees.
Back in the United States and Canada, McElroy personnel continued traveling across North America and recorded some interesting anecdotes regarding the trip in McElroy’s Road Show Blog (http://fusion.mcelroy.com/blog/). A quick skimming of the blog will let you know that while the Road Show was a serious and monumental matter, some fun was to be had.
| Here are some highlights of the adventure: |
| Best License Plate – Captured by Chip McElroy in New York. Short, to the point, and brilliant. |
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| First Flat Tire Winner – Chris Greggs, Kenny Nunley, and Carlos Alfonzo won the prize for the first flat tire. The back left tire of the trailer gave way in Lagrange, Georgia. A simple trip to a Wal-Mart and two hours of labor later, the team was on their way to Lawrenceville, Georgia and Consolidated Pipe & Supply. |
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| The Cecil & Jeb Sighting – Cecil, Jeb, and Butt Fusion Man were called upon for one leg of the Road Show, taking the wheel from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and onward to Washougal, Washington. The trio safely made it through customs, while staying out of trouble. Butt Fusion Man also kept the GPS in working order. |
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| NASCAR Driving Award – Josh Lawrence, Kenny Nunley, and Jim Craig deserve an award for being falsely navigated by Evil Edna, the GPS voice, to a treacherous hill outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The event, which was likened to being stuck in a mouse maze, required the three to navigate backwards up a steep hill with cars parallel parked on either side. |
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| Strangest Thing Seen – The team of Larry Gordon, Ron Zachau, and Steve McCowan came across Philip Schleihauf, an 18-year-old unicycling across Canada for charity. Schleihauf was unicycling coast-to-coast across Canada to raise awareness for the Invisible Children organization that aids children in Uganda. |
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On behalf of McElroy, we would like to thank you for your participation in the 2009 Road Show. Whether you attended an event, followed along on the blog, or paid attention to updates in Connections, we hope that you plan on attending a Road Show stop in 2010.
Sincerely,
Tyler Henning
thenning@mcelroy.com
P.S. – Do you have an interesting jobsite that you would like to share? McElroy is always looking for fusion websites where HDPE is being used and fused to solve an infrastructure problem. Contact Tyler Henning, public relations specialist at (918) 831-9286 or by email at thenning@mcelroy.com
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| New Product Spotlight: MegaMc® 1600 4-Jaw |
Have an enormous job ahead? McElroy’s MegaMc 1600 4-Jaw fusion machine can fuse pipe from 20” OD to 65” OD (500mm – 1600mm). The newest MegaMc machine features four jaws with 30,000 lbs. of clamping force per jaw, which translates into improved gripping and rerounding of the pipe. The new facer on the MegaMc 1600 is 40% faster than previous versions. Packed within its road-approved 102” width are other amazing features that will inspire big love for this big machine.
Click here for more information on the MegaMc 1600 4-Jaw. |
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| AMI event features pipe technology developments |
The Applied Market Information (AMI) conference on Plastics in Underground Pipes was held in May 2009 in Florida, and featured key developments in pipe use and technology.
Polyethylene pipes have been in use in North America since the 1950s when they were introduced in the oilfields.
Dr. Gene Palermo reviewed the issues for the industry including rapid crack propagation (RCP), which is a fast fracture of around 200 m/second with a sinusoidal path.
The factors involved include internal pressure, wall thickness, temperature, pipe processing and material.
ISO 4437 is a standard for PE gas pipes incorporating RCP.
The American Gas Association requested that this be included in the ASTM D 2513 standard.
Click here to read the entire story.
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Leaky pipes drain one-quarter of Ontario’s supply |
TORONTO — Municipal water systems in Ontario experience leakage rates of up to 50 percent, accounting for the loss of 327 million cubic meters (86.4 billion gallons) of drinking water annually at a cost of C$700 million (US $634 million) to taxpayers, the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) reported June 10.
The RCCAO, an alliance of groups from the residential and civil construction industry, on June 10 released its study, Incorporating Sustainability in Infrastructure ROI: The energy costs of deferred maintenance in municipal water systems.
The RCCAO said leaky pipes account for at least 25 percent of the province’s drinking water — enough to fill about 131,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Click here to read the entire story.
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| Burst pipe sends 150 million liters down the drain |
A rupture in one of Brisbane's main pipelines has sent than 150 million litres of drinking water down the drain.
The pipeline burst at Anstead around 3am, flooding roads and gardens in the city's western and south western suburbs.
But by early afternoon, normal supply had been restored to hundreds of homes.
At one stage, the torrent on Mount Crosby Road forced Energex to switch off an electricity transformer. Danny Donald from Energex said power was re-routed to prevent blackouts.
Dozens of suburbs around Anstead - as far southwest as Wacol and Inala - and south to Moorooka and Salisbury were without water or had low pressure until midday.
LinkWater said about 150 megalitres of water was lost.
Click here to read the entire story.
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| Study lays out $2.3 billion Oklahoma water pipeline proposal |
U.S. Water News Online
NORMAN, Okla. — More than a dozen central Oklahoma communities could team up to pay $2.3 billion to build a pipeline that would transport water from the southeastern part of the state.
A study prepared for the cities by the engineering company CDM suggested that the plan connecting to Sardis Lake and the Kiamichi River would be the cheapest option to bring in water from southeastern Oklahoma.
Oklahoma City's share would be about $1 billion under that plan, which is aimed at quenching the region's water needs through at least 2060. A CDM representative presented the plan to the Norman City Council this week.
Click here to read the entire story.
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| Broken pipe scheduled for replacement |
By Chad Smith, The St. Augustine Record
The decades-old, iron sewage pipeline running beneath the San Sebastian River was scheduled to be replaced within a year before it sprung a leak Saturday, spewing an untold amount of refuse into the water, a city official said Tuesday.
John Regan, the city's chief operations officer, said five of the city's six underwater pipes -- three sewer lines and three water mains -- had been replaced with high-density polyethylene (simply, plastic) tubes within the past decade.
The line that runs from the north side of Oyster Creek to Riberia Street is the last one that needs to be replaced, Regan said, but officials aren't sure if its age played a role in the leak.
Click here to read the entire story.
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Lake Mead water level will be trigger for pipeline |
By Henry Brean, Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS -- Opponents of a proposed pipeline to tap groundwater across eastern Nevada now have one more way to fight the project: Pray for the drought to end on the Colorado River.
For the first time, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has established a direct link between its multibillion-dollar pipeline project and the shrinking water level at Lake Mead.
Actually it's more than a link; it's a trigger.
If the surface elevation of the reservoir behind Hoover Dam falls another 21 feet, the water authority board in Las Vegas will be asked to give the go-ahead to construct the pipeline.
Click here to read the entire story.
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| Phuket City, Thailand begins HDPE work on Thalang Rd |
PHUKET CITY, Thailand - Work on the project to bury power cables along Thalang Road in Old Phuket Town got underway yesterday morning, with workers marking lines near the pavement to mark the trench that will house the conduit.
The narrow trench, about half a meter wide, will run along the right-hand side of the one-way road, once the heart of Phuket’s commercial district.
Work is starting at the west end of the road, at the junction with Yaowarat Road.
Phuket City Deputy Mayor Thawatchai Thongmung told the Gazette work on the project was initially scheduled to begin on May 15, but had to be postponed after members of the Thalang Road Community voted to use the trench to replace the existing blue PVC water supply pipe that runs along the road with a new high-density polyethylene (HDPE) main.
Click here to read the entire story.
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| Multiple homes flooded by Ravenna water main break |
By Levi Pulkkinen, Seattle Post Intelligencer
Ravenna resident Marilyn Potts didn't know what to expect when, just before 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, a firefighter knocked on her door.
"We looked out," she said, "and saw a lake."
Water streaming from a broken 12-inch pipe poured south through her neighborhood. A break located on Ravenna Avenue Northeast just south of Northeast 80th Street sent potable water into eight homes, including the Potts' abode.
Click here to read the entire story. |
| Oil of the 21st Century |
Soaked! City board orders massive 12.9% water rate hike for New Yorkers
By Adam Lisberg, New York Daily News
New Yorkers will get soaked with a 12.9% jump in their water rates and tough new penalties for broken water meters, a city board ordered Friday morning.
The rate hike takes effect July 1, making it the third double-digit rate hike in a row - and creating an issue that could rile middle-class homeowners in the months before the fall elections.
"Enough is enough," City Council Finance Committee Chairman David Weprin (D-Queens) told the Water Board, saying the city needs to do more to cut costs. "These water rate hikes have amounted to nothing more than a backdoor property tax increase."
Click here to read the entire story. |
CA gets $440M in stimulus money for water
SAN FRANCISCO — California will receive about $440 million for water and wastewater projects under the economic stimulus program (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) signed into law in February, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced in a May 21 press release.
Laura Yoshii, acting regional EPA administrator for the Pacific Southwest, said the funds will give the state an “unprecedented” opportunity to finance many overdue water projects, the release said.
The funds are earmarked for the state’s two revolving loan funds for water projects, according to EPA. Shovel-ready projects have been identified by the State Water Board, its chairman, Charlie Hoppin, was quoted as saying. He said that normally the state would handle about $250 million annual for water-related revolving loans, and the additional federal funds will be put to good use quickly.
Click here to read the entire story. |
NM gets $27.5M in stimulus for water projects
Twenty-two drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects around the state will receive $27.5 million in federal stimulus funding.
The New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Finance Authority will work with the local communities on the project, said Gov. Bill Richardson.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires that at least 20 percent of the funding for the water projects be directed to green projects and those have not yet been awarded. Consequently, the current awards meant the communities receiving the funds will get the first 80 percent of the money.
Click here to read the entire story.
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Massachusetts water infrastructure gets federal fund infusion
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff
The state's water processing plants and labyrinth of drinking water and sewage pipes are getting a $185 million upgrade from federal stimulus money, US Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson announced today.
The federal money will be used for more than 127 ready-to-be constructed projects – from a sewer extension in Acton to a water main replacement in West Springfield – and will account for 8 to 14 percent of the projects' costs. The funds are designed to create jobs and fix aging infrastructure while improving public health and the environment.
"Keeping the water supply clean and safe for millions of people will bring new jobs and opportunities to Massachusetts communities,'' Jackson said. ”Protecting our health and the environment is a great way to put people to work and build a new foundation for prosperity."
Click here to read the entire story.
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ANSI launches WaterSense accreditation program
NEW YORK — The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to mark ANSI’s acceptance as an accreditation body to participate in the EPA WaterSense Program, ANSI announced in a June press release.
EPA’s WaterSense program helps consumers to identify products that conserve water while maintaining high performance levels. Products certified by accredited certification bodies may carry a WaterSense label.
Click here to read the entire story. |
McElroy Connections welcomes your feedback, story ideas, tips, or anything else related to PE Pipe and Pipe fusion. Please email your comments and story ideas to:
McElroy Connections is published by McElroy Manufacturing Inc. The information contained within each issue is meant as a service to our customers, distributors, and those involved with Polyethylene Pipe applications.
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