This week is Public Natural Gas Week, an important week for natural gas utility companies all across the country. Working around natural gas is an extremely dangerous job: dangers our crews are all too familiar with. So, this week, we stop and take the time to appreciate all our unsung heroes for what they do every day to keep us safe.
In honor of this week, we would like to highlight one recent success story as an example of how awesome these dedicated workers are.
In May, we began replacing 14,000 steel service lines with modern polyethylene plastic pipes. The project is part of our Distribution and Integrity Managment Program, which uses analytics and refined business processes to help prioritize projects and track progress.
On Sept. 24 natural gas employees participated celebrated the replacement of the first 270 high-impact steel service lines.
"With steel pipes, you have natural corrosion that occurs," explained Natural Gas Construction Operations and Maintenance Manager Jared Miller. "Because of the natural occurring elements in the ground and the moisture, the steel pipes corrode, even though they aren't that old. We are proactively identifying these materials and taking them out of our system so it meets the highest standard of reliability."
Service renewals are occurring all over the city and work is being grouped into “areas” to make crews more efficient as they transition from one project to the next. Coordinated efforts are required across all internal construction crews, directional drilling, machine weld, field services and external contractors. Coordination is imperative to ensure customers receive the best service possible in the most efficient manner.
"It's important for our customers to know that we are out there proactively changing out service lines to be safer and to ensure our system is performing at the highest standard of reliability," Miller said.
Every week, but especially this week, we want thank our natural gas crews for their unwavering dedication to keeping our community safe each and every day.
