GPRS Utility Locating Saves Gas Utility $500,000 per Mile in Costs

Southern Connecticut Gas was realizing significant utility damage costs. After researching the problem, they found that their utility location and mapping information was classified as SUE Level D.

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Noting room for improvement in their utility data, SCG partnered with GPRS to conduct utility locating and mapping on an urban ROW (right of way). GPRS’ adherence to Subsurface Investigation Methodology (SIM) allows us to support SUE Level B surveys with 99.8% accuracy.*
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GPRS Project Managers employed ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic (EM) locators to map the water, sewer, electrical, gas, telecom, and other subsurface facilities. The captured data was uploaded with GPS positioning to SiteMap^® (patent pending) to provide SCG the findings in interactive layered utility maps.
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Following initial proof of concept, SCG expanded the program to include large-scale urban projects and the addition of video pipe inspection (VPI) for surveying and condition assessment of sanitary and storm sewer lines.

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The cost analysis was striking. By utilizing GPRS’ services to support Level B SUE and SiteMap^®, Southern Connecticut Gas saved $250,000 gross and $195,000 net for every 0.5 miles of urban pipeline work compared to their existing SUE Level B data.
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In verifying the location of both public & private utilities, GPRS found discrepancies between the mark-outs provided by the public utility contractors and the actual utility locations. In one instance, a fiber optic telecom cable was located intersecting an intended excavation location; it had gone previously unmarked and would have been severed had it not been found.
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By uploading all GPRS’ findings to SiteMap^®, SCG can create an aggregated, secure, and sharable permanent utility record.

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*GPRS does not conduct subsurface utility engineering (SUE) surveys. Our data capture supports SUE Level B.