Case HIstories in Europe
The Neofit® system was developed in the early 1990s by Wavin, the leading European producer of plastic piping systems, as the solution to provide existing lead water supply service lines with a barrier between the lead pipe material and the drinking water.
This report analyzes the Neofit system, including the product range and the installation process and illustrates the experience with a number of case histories in different European countries. In these case histories the installation process is further illustrated and the effectiveness of fighting lead contamination of the drinking water is demonstrated by comparing water test specimen before and after installation of the Neofit® expandable pressure pipe.
It shows that Neofit® is very much capable of doing the job it is supposed to do: protection against lead contamination of drinking water.
US Pilot: Louisville
In 2008, eight homes had their service pipes rehabilitated with Neofit. First flush ranged from 1.6 to 3.8µg/L (micrograms per liter), well below the action limit of 15µg/L. During the demonstration, the homes were supplied by CSLs and continued to be after the demonstration. Nearly eight years later, five of the rehabilitated LSLs could be revisited (Ball, 2016, Water Quality Sampling Results for Neofit® Lined Lead Drinking Water Service Lines). This is considered an extreme and unlikely situation and worst-case scenario.
Inspection Ports
The Neofit+Plus inspection ports have 2 uses:
The inspection port acts as a final confirmation that the barrier against the lead or copper host pipe and it's integrity is intact.
The inspection port can be checked at anytime and any water infiltration or exfiltration from the port can be tested if necessary.
By installing the inspection port at the water meter, the barrier's integrity can be inspected by the water authority or homeowner at any time. The inspection port can work in conjunction with the homeowners Backflow device. The Backflow stops contaminants from entering the public water distribution system and the inspection port insures the barrier is protecting the water from lead contamination.
Neofit®+Plus Main Connection System
Allows the NSF 61 certified Neofit+Plus expandable pressure tubing barrier to be installed in ½” to 1” ID water service lines from inside water mains 8” to 12” ID. This eliminates the need to dig up the water main in the street at each service connection. Only one access is required at each end of the water main pipe to allow the rehabilitation of each connecting service pipe.
Additionally, if trenchless technology methods, such as CIPP, are employed in the water main, the Main Connection System can be utilized to install Neofit in the service pipes at each tap from inside the lined water main pipe.
Flow capacity
In order to determine the effect on rehabilitating lead pipes with the Neofit® system, flow capacity calculations are carried out, using Colebrook-White’s theory, taking into account the reduction in internal diameter as well as the improvement of bore smoothness. From this it was learned that:
The flow capacity is only marginally influenced by the Neofit® barrier
The bigger the expansion allowed by the host pipe the higher the capacity after the installation of the Neofit® barrier
With the regular expansion rate of 2.0, the capacity increases up to 2.2%
With optimal installation conditions and a rate of 2.4, capacity increases up to 5.3% are possible
