A boring new technique for sewer repair comes to the South Side
April 21, 2025
Microtunneling is a game-changer when it comes to sewer projects in urban environments. Hiva Mahdavi speaks to NPR about its benefits.
Pittsburgh¡¯s South Side needed new pipes. During a rainstorm in the neighborhood, water poured through downspouts on many houses and buildings, off their properties onto the sidewalks and into the street. It pooled and froze creating dangerous icy sidewalks. Underground, the neighborhood has a combined sewer: wastewater from nearby homes and stormwater on the ground mix into the same pipe.
Pittsburgh Water, the city¡¯s water agency responsible for those pipes, has been working on a solution to separate the sewer¡ªwith a dedicated storm sewer and a separate wastewater sewer. And, where they can, take those downspouts and plug them into the new storm sewer. The water that now spills onto the street would flow straight into a pipe. The South Side Flats Sewer Rehabilitation Project has been underway since last summer, and construction is about halfway done.
Microtunneling is a way to install a pipe underground without having to dig a long trench and chew up an entire street for blocks.?
