What is the track record of flexible plastics pipe?
Plastics have been used in pressure and non pressure applications for over 40 years. Plastics pipe systems account for over 75% of the pressure water reticulation pipelines being installed across Australia today and over 90% of the sewer reticulation pipelines. Both gravity sewer and pressure water pipe systems have significantly more rigorous specifications than drainage in terms of pipe and joint performance. Infrastructure water and sewer systems are highly regulated environments where pipeline system performance is a key indicator for the asset owners. In both sewer and pressure water applications the pipe systems that have been replaced by plastics are poor performing rigid pipe options. The success of plastics pipes is down to their cost effectiveness and significantly better performance than the alternative materials. In terms of pressure applications concrete pipes are simply not a mainstream alternative. In the non-pressure applications like sewer reticulation flexible plastic
