3/4/13

Article from In the Pipe

Article from In the Pipe (http://www.e ne wsbuilde r.ne t/inthe pipe /e _article 001107320.cfm ?x =b11,0,w) May 28, 2008

Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE)

Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) is an engineering process that has evolved considerably over the past few decades. It has been used primarily by State transportation departments (DOTs), local highway agencies, utility companies, and highway design consultants. The SUE process combines civil engineering, surveying, and geophysics. It utilizes several technologies, including vacuum excavation and surface geophysics. Its use has become a routine requirement on highway projects in many states. SUE began in the early 1980s. Traditional methods of dealing with subsurface utilities were not working. It was common practice to design projects without consideration of any utilities and to then deal with them during construction. This resulted in many unnecessary utility relocations, construction delays, and unexpected encounters with subsurface utilities. It seemed possible that two relatively new technologies, air/vacuum excavation and surface geophysics, could be combined to gather data on the exact location of subsurface utilities early in the development of projects. Air/vacuum excavation. Highway engineers recognized that it was a good idea to expose subsurface utilities before beginning any excavation. Unfortunately, the only known way to do this in the early 1980s was to dig a trench with a backhoe. Far too often utilizing this method, unknown and even known utilities were damaged, resulting not only in damage to the utilities, but often in injuries, deaths, and property damage. Thus, the use of vacuum excavation to expose the utilities was of much interest to many progressive highway people. Surface geophysics. The first providers and users of SUE recognized that it would be very difficult to find subsurface utilities using vacuum excavation alone. Since the records provided by utility companies were more often than not inaccurate and incomplete, the use of emerging surface geophysical equipment was introduced to help determine relatively precise horizontal locations of subsurface utilities. The terms "designating" and "locating" were developed to differentiate surface geophysics and air/vacuum excavation, respectively. For more background see: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/history.cfm

Surgically Eliminating Subsurface Surprises Minimally Invasive Vacuum Excavation Is Fast and Cost-Effective
Article originally appeared in the April 2008 issue of Utility Contractor Magazine. Reprinted with permission.

By Mike Twohig Exposing underground utilities is like surgery. And there is an inherent risk in peeling back layers. Risk and healing time in the medical world have been reduced by endoscopy, a minimally invasive diagnostic procedure that involves inserting a tube into the body through a small incision in order to assess the interior surfaces of an organ. Non-destructive vacuum excavation is the endoscopy of the subsurface utility engineering (SUE) profession. The opening is small (1 sq ft), the suctioning of earth usually swift (10 minutes or less) and the utility exposed in a safer manner than using a backhoe, excavator or even hand digging. Precise X, Y and Z locations can be captured, and in some cases, the utility can be assessed for repair or maintenance. If air
www.enewsbuilder.net/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=1107320&u=inthepipe&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000266871&lid=b11&uid=0&XXDESXXpower= 1/6

3/4/13

Article from In the Pipe

vacuum excavation is used, as opposed to the hydro method, then the removed materials (if free of contaminants) can be put back in the hole practically eliminating healing time. Theres a key difference in this analogy, though. Surgeons know their way around a human body. Organs and arteries, bones, joints and muscles are pretty much in the same place from person to person, but we dont always know what or exactly where utilities are located beneath the ground. Out of Sight There are millions of miles of utilities in the United States communication, gas/propane, petroleum, water, sewer, storm, power and steam lines weaving a spidery network of veins and arteries below the Earths surface. With advanced mapping technologies such as GPS and GIS, utility locators are getting better at knowing precise locations. But more often than not, they dont know for sure, and not everyone knows how to properly read those maps. Despite the best intentions, utilities are often mis-marked. One wrong move with an excavator, backhoe or even a hand shovel can be catastrophic for the workers, others in the vicinity, the property/utility owners and sometimes entire communities. Lives, liability and litigation have become buzzwords on the tongues of project owners, as well as the engineers and contractors hired to designate, expose, locate and perform work on utilities. Case in point: Several years ago in Walnut Creek, Calif., workers digging a water main trench with a backhoe struck a petroleum pipeline, triggering an explosion. The costs were catastrophic: five dead, four seriously injured, property damage, project delays, criminal investigations, litigation, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and at least $6 million in settlements. California safety investigators mainly blamed the pipeline owner for untrained employees who didnt know how to read blueprints and failed to properly mark a bend in the high-pressure line. But the contractor and engineering companies were also fined, as was the water main owner. After the Walnut Creek explosion, California enacted a law establishing tougher safety practices for excavation work conducted near high-risk utilities. Some of these practices include nondestructive excavation, as well as certified training for anyone whose job is to mark utility locations. Other states have similar laws: the Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act (Virginia), the Underground Utility Facility Damage Prevention Act (Illinois) and the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act (Florida), to name a few. Room for Improvement Non-destructive methods that manually determine a utility are considered safe excavation practices in 38 states, according to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA), a Virginia-based, nonprofit organization that advocates for safer digging practices. Every state has a call-before-youdig hotline. Still, the CGA estimates there are between 500,000 and 750,000 accidental strikes of underground utilities each year in the United States. That number could be reduced to nearly zero. There are four SUE Quality Levels, with each level providing an additional, more-detailed layer of due diligence and protection. These Quality Levels, described in the Standard Guideline The Costs and Ripple Effects of a for the Collection and Depiction of Existing Subsurface Damaged Utility Utility Data, were developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This National Consensus Standard Potential injury and death (NCS) follows the legal procedures for adoption not only as Criminal investigations an ASCE standard but also as an American National
www.enewsbuilder.net/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=1107320&u=inthepipe&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000266871&lid=b11&uid=0&XXDESXXpower= 2/6

3/4/13

Article from In the Pipe

Standard Institute (ANSI) standard. Courts and lawyers use these standards to assist in both defining a professionals standard of care and in assigning blame. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and many state DOTs support these standards as best practices. The Quality Levels are:

Quality Level D (QL-D) involves utility records research and interviews with knowledgeable utility personnel. Quality Level C (QL-C) involves surface survey, identifying and recording aboveground features of subsurface utilities such as manholes, valves and hydrants. Quality Level B (QL-B) involves application of surface geophysical methods such as electromagnetic-based locating instruments, ground penetrating radar, radar tomography, metal detectors and optical instruments to gather and record approximate horizontal (and, in some cases, vertical) positional data. Quality Level A (QL-A) involves physical exposure via soft-digging (vacuum excavation or hand digging) and provides precise horizontal and vertical positional data. So, what does all of this mean? According to the FHWA, the intent of this standard is to present a system of classifying the quality of the existing subsurface utility data. Such a classification allows the project owner, engineer and contractor to develop strategies to reduce or, at a minimum, allocate risk. It also means the engineer needs to know the appropriate recommendations to make to the project owner and the engineer will likely be held responsible for negligent errors and/or omissions in the utility data at the certified Quality Level. Ultimately, the project owner decides which Quality Level he or she is willing to pay for a decision that also carries liability. And contractors who dont precisely follow maps, blueprints and procedures also could face penalties. QL-B lists some pretty high-tech equipment to locate utilities, but not all utilities can be located with these devices because of their material (e.g., plastic pipes cant be detected with metal detectors).

Environmental contamination Project delays Lost time and productivity Financial liability Redesign costs Higher construction bids Change orders Extra work orders Construction claims Higher insurance costs Higher fi nancing costs Detours Bad publicity

An ounce of pre ve ntion re ally is worth a pound of cure . A Purdue Unive rsity study found that for e ve ry $1 spe nt on SUE m e thods, $4.62 was save d. In that ve in, North C arolinas DO T spe nt $10,000 but save d an e stim ate d $500,000 using vacuum e x cavation for a proje ct to locate a wate r line .

QL-A ensures absolute location identification. So why doesnt everyone take it to this level, especially given the fact that various safe-dig laws require non-destructive excavation when digging within the tolerance zone of a designated utility? The answer lies in a perception problem: QL-A, specifically vacuum excavation, is perceived as expensive. Reality: Non-Destructive Vacuum Excavation Saves Money An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A Purdue University study found that for every $1 spent on SUE methods, $4.62 was saved. The costs of obtaining QL-B and QL-A data, according to the Purdue study, were less than 0.5 percent of the total construction costs and resulted in a construction savings of 1.9 percent over traditional QL-C and/or QL-D data. North Carolinas DOT spent $10,000 but saved an estimated $500,000 using vacuum excavation for a project to locate a water line. In Boston, vacuum excavation was used to verify locations on a $30 million utility project, which
www.enewsbuilder.net/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=1107320&u=inthepipe&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000266871&lid=b11&uid=0&XXDESXXpower= 3/6

3/4/13

Article from In the Pipe

was part of a $14 billion Central Artery/Tunnel project. By spending $98,000, the contractors sleeved and moved about 37,000 ft of pipes, mains and ducts without damage or delay and found pipes that werent previously marked finishing the job five months ahead of schedule. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of positive examples like these. Consider the size and cost of a typical contractor test pit. Most are 50 to 100 sq ft, whereas air vac test pits are 1 sq ft. In cities where a street opening permit costs $50-plus per square foot, vacuum excavation offers significant savings not to mention that backhoes and excavators often require a lot of manpower, closure of streets and are not as environmentally friendly. In some cases, vacuum excavation is half the cost of exposing the utility with a backhoe or excavator. But what about hand digging? Well, if time is money, then hand digging isnt necessarily costeffective. And, there is the possibility that a shovel could hit and rupture or cut a utility. Air vacuum excavation is fast and properly operated, it will not damage a utility or the utilitys protective coating. Why Dont We Know Whats in the Ground? According to Cost Savings on Highway Projects Utilizing Subsurface Utility Engineering, Purdue University, existing records of underground site conditions are usually incorrect, incomplete or otherwise inadequate because: They were not accurate in the first place. Design drawings are not as-built or installations were field-runand no record was ever made of actual locations. Multiple parties have been involved over the years. On old sites, there have usually been several utility owners, architects/engineers and contractors installing facilities and burying objects for decades. Seldom are the records placed in a single fi le, and they are often lost. There is almost never a composite. References are frequently lost. Records show that an object is a certain distance from a building that is no longer there, or an object is a certain distance from the edge of a two-lane road that is now four lanes or is part of a parking lot. Records are often insuffi ciently maintained. Lines, pipes and tanks are removed from the ground but arent removed from the drawings. Air vs. Hydro Vacuum excavation technology has been around in some shape or form since the 1950s. Today, there are two main forms of vacuum excavation: air and hydro. A variety of factors influence which method is right for a given situation. Air vacuum excavators use compressed air to loosen the soil and positive displacement blowers to vacuum the spoils into a tank. Hydro vacuum excavators use high-pressure water to loosen soils, and the residual slurry spoils are easily extracted into the debris tank. Air vacuum excavator systems are generally used in dry sands, gravel and other loose materials, using little if any water. Hydro vacuum excavator systems work better on the clays and heavy, dense soils typically found in the Southern and Midwestern states, although there are some very powerful air vacs now on the market as well as combo vacs that offer air and hydro from the same unit. The biggest mechanical difference between the hydro and air is filtration. Hydro requires very little filtration as few airborne particles pass through the debris tank and into the blowers. Air vacuum excavator systems, however,

C onside r the size and cost of a typical

4/6

www.enewsbuilder.net/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=1107320&u=inthepipe&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000266871&lid=b11&uid=0&XXDESXXpower=

3/4/13

Article from In the Pipe

contractor te st pit m ost are 50 to 100 sq have significant amounts of small particles traveling ft, whe re as air vac te st pits are 1 sq ft not through the tank into the filter cartridges. All of the to m e ntion that back hoe s and e x cavators airborne particles need to be extracted from the airflow ofte n re quire a lot of m anpowe r, closure of stre e ts and are not as e nvironm e ntally before going through the blower system. The buildup of frie ndly. this dust on the filter media will begin to starve the blower of air. This creates heat and potential for damage to the system if the airflow cannot be maintained. Purchase, rental and maintenance costs for air vacs are typically more than for hydro. While hydro vacuum excavators may appear to be less complicated and less expensive, there are other factors to consider. Hydro vacuum excavations often require hundreds of gallons of water for a days work. This greatly increases the size and weight of the truck or trailer, which could be a problem when working on soft or sloped terrain or in a tight area. The spoils from hydro vacuum excavators cannot be placed back in the hole and the surface cannot be restored quickly. Most significant, if the soil is contaminated, the increased volume from water may increase the handling and disposal costs of the spoils.

Air vacuum excavators weigh far less, and the dry material can be replaced in the hole and compacted using tampers. Disposal issues of contaminated spoils are also mitigated as no water or chemicals have been introduced into the soil. There are additional economical and safety advantages of air vs. water. Water is a noncompressible fluid, so it will try to cut whatever it encounters. Air is compressible, so if it hits something hard, it will compress and flow around it, avoiding any damage. Air is also nonconductive, so it is safer for operators. After the utility is exposed, the following information is typically recorded: utility, material, size, depth, condition, location (X, Y, Z), orientation, roadway section materials and depths, soil type and water table. Air vacuum excavation can also be used at proposed boring locations to excavate below the utility window, which is usually about 8 ft. This is very useful where the mandated setbacks to utilities cannot be maintained or the location of certain utilities is in question. Vacuum excavation is especially useful in applications where, in the middle of a big site, there are hidden underground utilities. Its also great for checking for environmental contamination without exposing a large area. If vacuum excavation is the endoscopy of the SUE world, then Mother Earth is our patient. We should treat her and her people right. Mike Twohig is a subsurface utility engineer with Woolpert Inc. based in Orlando, Fla. SUE Best Practices, Including Non-destructive Vacuum Excavation, Save Money By: Reducing unforeseen utility conflicts and relocations Reducing project delays due to utility relocates Reducing claims and change orders Reducing delays due to utility cuts Reducing project contingency fees Lowering project bids Reducing costs caused by confl ict redesign Reducing the cost of project design Reducing travel delays during construction to the motoring public Improving contractor productivity and quality Reducing utility companies costs to repair damaged facilities Minimizing utility customers loss of service Minimizing damage to existing pavements Minimizing traffi c disruption and increasing DOT public credibility Improving working relationships between DOT and utilities
www.enewsbuilder.net/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=1107320&u=inthepipe&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000266871&lid=b11&uid=0&XXDESXXpower= 5/6

3/4/13

Article from In the Pipe

Increasing efficiency of surveying activities by elimination of duplicate surveys Facilitating electronic mapping accuracy Minimizing the chance of environmental damage Inducing savings in risk management and insurance Introducing the concept of a comprehensive SUE process Reducing right-of-way acquisition costs Source: Cost Savings on Highway Projects Utilizing Subsurface Utility Engineering, Purdue University
Publishe d by Association of O il Pipe Line s C opyright 2013 Association of O il Pipe Line s. All rights re se rve d. Created with eNewsBuilder

www.enewsbuilder.net/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=1107320&u=inthepipe&show_issue_date=F&issue_id=000266871&lid=b11&uid=0&XXDESXXpower=

6/6