Interesting story about renewing water pipes #infrastructure

It's probably just me, but solutions to the infrastructure renewal problem are fascinating. Well, interesting, anyway. Infrastructure is one of those things we (a) take for granted and (b) ignore until it breaks. When it does break (or run out of capacity) then we blame someone else. Transport infrastructure is a popular example - we want more roads, better roads, smoother roads, fewer potholes, less traffic and so on but if we lose our homes, our trees or an historic building for a new road we will get onto the media and have a whinge. Conversely if no new roads are built others will get onto the media and whinge that no new roads are being built. And if we do build those roads, perhaps underground to save those trees and homes, we will be caned by someone for not spending the money more wisely - like on on public transport or bikeways. For governments, steering between the extremes is not easy.

Which brings me to water pipes. They age, they corrode, they break. They are underground. They are essential. So how do we maintain 'em? You can dig a trench and renew the pipes, causing massive disruption, or you can sleeve the pipes with other, smaller diameter pipes, typically using plastic. Obviously you can only do this so many times before you lose significant pipe capacity, but equally obviously we may get another 100 years out of a sleeved pipe, allowing us to "get away with it" and leave the problem for another generation. Here's another method, involving robots, cameras and inflatable plastic repair jobs. It's destined to be used in New York's 150-year-old wood-lined water pipes.

Well I liked it anyway.