Mr Bartholomaeus became involved in the trenchless industry through his employment at SA Water during the rehabilitation of sewer mains in Adelaide.

While working in the water sector he says the main changes Trenchless Technology has seen, particularly in regard to wastewater networks, has been an acceptance that rehabilitation of wastewater mains will be undertaken in a trenchless manner. While it is now commonplace to rehabilitate this form of infrastructure in a trenchless way, he says that this does not mean only one technique is chosen, stating that an increasing number of technologies are now available to undertake this work.

Mr Bartholomaeus sees a great need for Trenchless Technology in populations and cities that are rapidly expanding.

“As our cities get more congested, there will be an increasing need to upgrade and create infrastructure in a way that minimises disruption to the public in an efficient and cost effective manner.”

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On the ASTT

Mr Bartholomaeus believes that the ASTT is important to the development of the industry, because it provides a single point where the interests of the industry can be developed through creating a forum for knowledge sharing, developing industry guidelines and standards or encouraging education and training programs for the industry.

For new entrants to the industry, Mr Bartholomaeus says the ASTT website can be utilised as a great tool for novices to the technology.

“Newcomers should go to the ASTT website to check out the various types of technologies available; to find guidelines, standards and specifications; and to find out about the up and coming events that are happening,” he says.

He also mentioned the online planning tool, NUCA TAG, that councils and utilities can take advantage of when planning infrastructure projects that could utilise Trenchless Technology.

“The NUCA TAG is a web based tool that can be used for identifying trenchless construction methods that are suitable for a particular project based on its physical attributes – diameter, length, depth, geological conditions and so on,” he says.

He also advises that newcomers to the industry should make the most of the ASTT representatives in each state, and seek their advice or any additional information for questions they may have.

Trenchless Technology in water

SA Water owns and manages over 26,000 km of watermains with sizes up 1,375 mm, some of which date back to the 1880s. Mr Bartholomaeus says that Trenchless Technology is a vital component of the ongoing management strategy of SA Water.

The use of Trenchless Technology within the last year on watermains includes:

  • A continuation of various minor horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and directional boring works on various projects for road crossings, railway crossings, creek crossings or to minimise social and environmental impacts that would otherwise result with open-cut excavations. These watermain extensions vary from 20-30 m to several hundred metres, in pipe diameters ranging from 63 mm up to 450 mm.
  • Planning is underway to rehabilitate some of the older trunk watermains, which is expected to include a portion of trenchless renewal.

Wastewater rehabilitation

SA Water owns and manages over 8,000 km of sewer mains throughout South Australia, with sizes up 2,600 mm, also with stretches of pipe dating back to the 1880s.

  • During 2012 approximately 4 km of reinforced concrete wastewater mains were lined using a spiral wound PVC liner, and another 800 m of ovoid sewer has been lined with using cured-in-place pipe (CIPP).
  • Trenchless Technologies have also been used for sewer and gravity main crossings of major roadways, railways and creeks.
  • Future works are expected to continue based on the renewal program.
  • Presently, Mr Bartholomaeus says the most exciting trenchless project he is about to work on is a large-scale rehabilitation project with SA Water. The utility is about to undertake one of its largest wastewater rehabilitation projects, rehabilitating a 6 km long, 1 m diameter wastewater main.

Mr Bartholomaeus takes over his role as South Australia ASTT Councillor from Kane Scott, who held this role from 2006-2012.