Tri-State Utilities – Chesapeake, Virginia – This September will be the 25th Anniversary of Tri-State Utilities! In addition, this April marked the 15 year anniversary of the licensee agreement between Tri-State Utilities and CIPP Corp. It is amazing how fast that 15 years has passed us by and the changes, or evolution if you will, that has occurred within the CIPP industry. When we first began installing CIPP liners, it was out of necessity. The PVC Fold & Form market was drying up due to poor product performance by the HDPE Fold & Form products, patent infringement lawsuits by Insituform against Fold & Form manufacturers, and the use of steam to effectively cure CIPP liners. The latter being the reason for the unprecedented growth of the rehabilitation market not only in the United States, but around the world.
We began installing CIPP liners very modestly, one water cure crew slowly but surely installing liners daily ranging in size from 6” to 48” diameter. We would drive 14 hours every other week to Columbus, Ohio or Hudson, Iowa to pick up our wet-out liners for the first two years of operation. Within the first 18 months of installing CIPP liners, we quickly realized we could use the same equipment we were processing Fold & Form liners with to cure the CIPP and with that decision came a very fast growth to five CIPP crews and almost two million feet of CIPP installed over the past 15 years.
As exciting as the past 15 years of CIPP lining have been, we feel that the next 15 years are going to be even better. The CIPP industry is continuing to evolve; in the very near future applying CIPP liners to pressure pipes both potable and sanitary will become accepted practice. The application of CIPP to pressure pipes will allow for a greater amount of pipe to be rehabilitated in the country at a fraction of today’s replacement cost. This is a win for all parties involved; we (citizens) will enjoy cleaner drinking water and better sanitation and utility owners will reap the benefit of lowered rehabilitation costs.
All of this change is possible by the creativity and ingenuity of our industry professionals. Whether by water, steam or UV cure, Polyester Felt, Glass Reinforced, or other exotic material, our industry is moving forward every year with new and improved variations of the same “old” thing: Cured-In-Place Pipeliner!
We at Tri-State Utilities look forward to bringing our customers new and innovative products such as the Rausch Quicklock Repair Sleeve, the Link-Pipe Repair Sleeve, pressure pipe liners, and short liners.
We also want to thank our customers for trusting us to bring them the best product the industry can offer for 25 years and offer a special thanks to Steven F. McSweeney for providing us with a great place of employment and example of how to carry ourselves.