The conference, which is being organised by The Centre for the Advancement of Trenchless Technologies (CATT), will include paper topics on pipeline planning and design, construction and rehabilitation, materials, geotechnical considerations, inspection and condition assessment, asset management and sustainability.

These shows feature two days of technical presentations, field demonstrations and over 40 technical exhibits.

In 2001, CATT organised and hosted the 2001 Underground Infrastructure Research Conference and Road Show. More than 180 delegates from nine countries with over over 50 presentations and technical papers, discussed buried infrastructure research needs. Since then, CATT has hosted several trenchless road shows in 2003, 2005, 2007 with growing number of attendees, reaching a record high 346 in 2010.

A bit about CATT

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CATT was established in 1994 to help solve Waterloo’s buried infrastructure problems. Since its inception, the centre continues to inform the Canadian industry of research and developments through events such as the upcoming 2012 Trenchless Technology Road Show in Niagara Falls, Canada.

In the early 1990s, the City of Waterloo, located in Ontario, Canada, began experiencing premature failures of black fibre pipe sewer laterals that were in service for less than 20 years. The rapid usage of 51–200 mm diameter black fibre pipes – made of compressed vacuum impregnated fibre paper tubes with bituminous coal tar pitch – started during World War II when the use of steel was limited.

Expenses for the large number of premature failures and construction issues started to weigh on the city, costing $CAD6,500 ($US6,645) to replace each lateral. It led to a partnership between the City of Waterloo and the University of Waterloo in 1994, to explore lower cost and less disruptive black pipe sewer replacement methods.

This partnership led to the use of pipe bursting, which reduced the cost of a lateral replacement from $CAD6,500 (US$6,645) to $CAD4,500 (US$4,563).

The success of that partnership led to the development of a research centre devoted to helping municipalities solve their buried infrastructure problems. In 1994, CATT was founded at the University of Waterloo through a partnership between the university, City of Waterloo, National Research Centre of Canada and 25 founding municipalities, industrial equipment and material suppliers, contractors, consultants, and gas company members.

Today, led by Executive Director Dr Mark Knight, CATT has over 70 members and represents over 400 individuals across Canada.

CATT continues to examine innovative tools and procedures to improve the maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement of the ageing sewer lines, water mains, and other components that constitute water and wastewater infrastructure in a cost-effective manner. Current research efforts focus on four key areas of condition assessment for water and wastewater conveyance systems; system rehabilitation for water and wastewater conveyance systems; advanced design and engineering concepts; and innovative technologies for the management of buried wastewater, stormwater and drinking water networks.