Pipelines Running Below Your Street
If your morning commute has ever been delayed by roadwork to dig up the tarmac and plant new pipes or repair old ones, you’ve probably thought of those underground conduits as a nuisance more than anything else. But those pipelines, which are otherwise unseen and unnoticed, are essential for transporting liquids across town and across country. Here’s what you might find if you could look below the road.
Carrier Pipes
The pipe that actually carries the liquid or gas from one place to another is called, appropriately enough, a carrier pipe. Some carrier pipes may be made of steel or iron, others of a strong plastic, and still others of fiberglass. Depending on what’s flowing through them, they may have a protective coating. For maximum protection, they may be enclosed in casing pipes that protect them from their contents leaking out into the surrounding ground or water from the surrounding ground leaking into them. (more…)