Full Description

Water utilities were surveyed and laboratory studies were undertaken to determine the limits ofhydrocarbon contamination in which polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) pipes andvarious types of pipe gaskets can be used successfully, without customer complaints or laboratorydata exceeding U.S. Environmental Protection Agency MCLs. Permeation incidents were reported at a frequency of oneper 14,000 miles of mains and one per 1,000,000 PE/PVC service connections. Successful useof water mains in contaminated areas was reported at a frequency of one per 1,800 miles ofmains and one per 2,500,000 plastic service connections. Gasoline was the most frequentlyreported contaminant. Laboratory studies showed that PVC pipe is highly resistant to gasolineand water saturated with gasoline. PVC pipe is also resistant to water solutions of benzene,toluene, and TCE but the most extreme levels of environmental contamination. The rate ofprogress of the moving front in PVC pipes exposed to pure benzene, toluene, and TCE is afunction of the square root of time, whereas it is linear with time for aqueous solutions of thosesolvents. A method is described for predicting the resistance of PVC pipe to permeation basedon visualization of the progress of the moving front during the first 24 hours of exposure to acontaminant. Includes 2 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/01/2006 Number of Pages: 18File Size: 1 file , 520 KB