The eco-conscious drilling option
It’s important to us that we do everything we can to reduce our environmental impact. A few months ago, we wrote a blog called “4 ways we prevent environmental degradation at our job sites.” In it, we discussed some of the things we’re doing to lower our environmental footprint.
If you read our previous blog, you’ll see we discuss how we reduce fuel usage by minimizing the number of vehicles on-site and trying to use green fuel sources. We also discussed how we recycle many existing materials to cut down on waste and use inflatable water dams instead of sandbags. In this blog, we want to discuss another way we are being eco-conscious.
In the mountain west, the chosen “green” method for installing utilities and pipelines is called Horizontal Directional Drilling. This advancement in technology allows many industries to reduce their environmental impact. At Americom, we use highly specialized equipment that allows us for placement of underground utility lines without the need for excavating and trenching that can significantly contribute to erosion.
This allows us to lower the impact on the surrounding environment and reduce the effects it has on local traffic. It also poses little risk to wetlands, rivers, lakes and preserved reclamation areas. Additionally, horizontal directional drilling is ideal for maintaining the integrity of driving surfaces by boring deep beneath the surface. On the other hand, trenching and cutting can cause significant disturbances and be an inconvenience. Especially if the work is being done alongside or on a road.
Horizontal directional drilling has allowed pipes and utilities to be installed around many obstacles across some of this region’s delicate environments. Pipes and utilities have been able to be installed around water, railroads, buildings, roads and protected landscapes. This type of drilling allows us to curve underground utility lines along the desired route which creates less disturbance above and below ground than traditional methods.
One of the examples of projects we worked on to use horizontal directional drilling is when we installed 360′ 8″ HDPE waterline through a solid rock hillside at a 66-degree bore without harming the integrity of Zion National Park’s canyon walls. This type of drilling allowed us to easily navigate around sensitive sloping areas and maneuver up the majestic cliffs of the park without disrupting the beautiful landscape.
You can see that we are committed to being eco-conscious in the way we do things. We take added measures to make sure we’re doing everything we can to reduce our environmental footprint. If you’d like to learn more or find out if horizontal directional drilling would work for your project, contact us today at (801) 892-0500.
