Report: Culvert repairs pose environmental risks

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University engineering report recommends states require standardized testing to safeguard against environmental contamination caused by a widely used method for rehabilitating aging drainage culverts.

Assistant engineering professor Andrew Whelton says the nation's culvert infrastructure is decaying and states have no standardized product test method that screens out technologies or construction practices that can cause environmental damage.

He says there's evidence that a frequently-used technology called cured-in-place pipe have caused fish kills, harmed wastewater treatment plants and caused evacuations of day care centers, schools and government buildings.

Whelton says a newly developed modified procedure can be used on freshly manufactured pipe rehabilitation materials to potentially screen out hazardous materials.