Condition assessment—the process of evaluating a facility’s physical state and estimating its remaining service life—can identify problems before they become failures, or worse, emergencies. Yet when utility staff can’t access or visually inspect a facility, assessment becomes difficult—and as a result, it’s often overlooked in water and wastewater system operations and maintenance. This gap in oversight is one of the main reasons underground pressure pipe deterioration has become a significant liability concern for both agencies and their insurers.
Force mains, in particular, present serious challenges. They are expensive to build, essential to collection and treatment systems, and often rely on unique materials and components not used elsewhere in the system. When they fail, they tend to fail catastrophically—posing major risks to public health, safety, and agency priorities. It’s no surprise that insurance pools are strongly encouraging agencies to better manage and assess these assets.
Water mains often serve to failure, and failures on high-consequence water mains tend to capture headlines. Do you remember the last water main that excavated an intersection in a few minutes, flooded nearby businesses, and wiped out service for adjacent utilities? Who doesn’t? It’s hard to forget.
What to do?
Ewers Engineering delivers a risk-based, systematic, and vendor-neutral approach to condition assessment. Our process is designed to minimize strain on agency resources while delivering the critical information needed to take effective action. Whether you're building a new program, tackling a specific project, or looking for a staff extension, we support agencies in:
Extending pipeline service life by identifying and addressing factors that accelerate deterioration, such as hydrogen sulfide buildup, pressure transients, and velocity/pressure imbalances.
Improving operational readiness through CMMS integration, work planning, and staff training.
Prioritizing investments based on risk, so the highest-consequence assets receive attention first.
Demonstrating regulatory compliance and management excellence, helping build public trust and meet Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs).
Optimizing system design and performance by improving equipment selection (e.g., air/vacuum valves) and applying hydraulics-based troubleshooting.
Bridging O&M and engineering to ensure both sides of the house are coordinated, aligned, and contributing to long-term system health.
For critical pipelines that simply can’t be allowed to fail, we tailor our condition assessment programs to your agency’s specific needs, systems, and operational realities.
Let’s talk about your current approach—and how we can help you meet your goals with confidence.
