Pittsburgh Water Approves Neighborhood Lead Pipe Replacement Contract Requiring SWORDFISH
First In The Nation Construction Specification Requires Electrical Resistance Testing for Lead Pipe Identification, Prior to Replacement
'"We congratulate Wilson Excavating for winning this competitive bid and applaud the visionary leadership of Will Pickering & Dan Duffy for pioneering lead pipe identification and remediation.' — Mike App, Executive Vice President, Electro Scan Inc.
PITTSBURGH, PA, UNITED STATES, January 28, 2025 / EINPresswire.com / -- Electro Scan Inc. announced today that the Board of Pittsburgh Water ( PGH2O) approved a $12.1 million contract that requires SWORDFISH lead pipe inspection, prior to pipe replacement.
The contract was awarded to Wilson Excavating (Reynoldsville, PA) for PGH2o's 2024 Neighborhood Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) Contract requiring SWORDFISH testing.
Electro Scan's exclusive service partner, Element 82, a division of Crown (NASDAQ: CRKN), is set to perform SWORDFISH testing on all water service lines for the 1,600 homes.
The construction contract is one of a series of 'find and fix' capital projects undertaken by PGH2O to systematically identify and mitigate lead water service pipes for the citizens of Pittsburgh, PA.
PGH2O remains on track to eliminate all lead service lines by 2027.
'We congratulate Wilson Excavating for winning this competitive bid and applaud the visionary leadership of Will Pickering (CEO, PGH2O) and Dan Duffy (Principal at East Woods Consultants, LLC) for pioneering lead pipe identification and remediation,' states Mike App, Executive Vice President, Electro Scan Inc.
Wilson Excavating, a Lindy Company, was one of six (6) companies that responded to the Invitation to Bid for PGH2O's 2024 Neighborhood LSLR – Contract B, PWSA PROJECT NO. 2024-200-105-1.
PGH20's customer-first approach has drawn the attention of water utilities, regulators, and industry professionals from across the country.
Since 2021, PGH2O has consulted with 32 organizations to share best practices and lessons learned with those just starting their lead line replacement journey.
Construction specifications as part of the 1,050-page bid document released in November 2024, included the mandatory use of electrical resistance testing for the verification of each full service water line (both public and private) to verify pipe material composition.
Electrical resistance testing is a machine-intelligent solution that automatically identifies water pipe materials by measuring the electrical resistivity for one or more pipe materials.
In December 2024, electrical resistance testing was recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency as the only commercially available innovative solution that accurately finds lead water pipes.
Offered by Electro Scan Inc. (Sacramento, CA) its patented and patent-pending SWORDFISH and SWORDFISH Flow Express incorporate electrical resistance technology to identify copper, galvanized, plastic, and lead pipe materials in real time, with detail reports available within minutes.
Oftentimes, water systems have multiple buried pipe materials that make up water service lines, able to be identified by the company's SWORDFISH solution; missed by visual inspection of meter boxes & hose spigots, and not found by digging, hydro-excavating, potholing, or predictive modeling.
In August 2024, a nationally-recognized water fixtures & leak detection equipment supplier withdrew its acoustic-based 'lead detection product' from the market.
This first in the nation construction bid represents a model approach for other large and small water systems that must assess and replace all lead water service lines before 2037.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) approved the use of electrical resistance testing in May 2024, after field benchmark testing and conducting a detail review of SWORDFISH training materials.
To date, PGH2O has received $176 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), (H.R. 3684); a U.S. federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021.
Working with the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST), PGH2O recently received an additional $26 million for follow-on lead service line identification and removal work.
Funding from PENNVEST aids communities to increase the health and safety of Pennsylvania Commonwealth citizens, protect the environment, promote economic development, and improve water quality.
In December 2024, PGH2O celebrated the replacement of its 12,000th public side lead water pipe, where Will Pickering, CEO, Pittsburgh Water, spoke at the event.
ABOUT PGH2O's LEAD REPLACEMENT PROGRAM
Pittsburgh Water serves about two-thirds of the City of Pittsburgh or about 250,000 people. It treats water from the Allegheny River and distributes it through 1,000 miles of water main to 81,000 homes. Pittsburgh Water continues to replace public lead service lines as stipulated in the Consent Order and Agreement (COA) issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) on November 17, 2017. Pittsburgh Water has a dedicated program to focus on replacing both public and private lead service lines in the water distribution system, which would reduce the risk of these lines leaching lead into the drinking water. Considerable progress has been made and as of October 25, 2024, Pittsburgh Water has replaced 11,796 public lead lines and 8,529 private lead service lines. Pittsburgh Water continues working towards the goal to replace all residential lead service lines by 2027 [Source: 2024 Consulting Engineer's Annual Report].
ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC.
Founded in 2011, Electro Scan is an international supplier of machine-intelligent pipeline assessment and quality assurance products & services for the water, sewer, and oil & gas markets. The company develops and markets proprietary equipment and SaaS-based cloud applications that automatically locates, measures, and reports pipeline leaks and water service line pipe materials, including lead pipes. The company's products and services detect buried lead water services, typically not found by legacy inspection methods.
Electro Scan Interview on Fox 40, Studi40 Live, YouTube Video (Duration: 5 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quumUwyFlyM
Electro Scan Inc.
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