 There are millions of feet of pressurized pipeline in the United States that are aging and that need to be rehabilitated. In this episode of the Civil Engineering podcast, Steve Soldati, Civil Engineer, is going to give us some strategies for rehabilitating those aging pipelines. He's also going to provide us with two steps that you can take if you are a civil engineer looking to navigate a transition or make a change in your career. Let's do it. All right, now I'd like to welcome Steve Soldati. Steve is a civil engineer with in situ form and Steve, welcome back to the Civil Engineering podcast. Thank you. Thanks for having me again. So Steve, it's been a while since you've been on the podcast about, you know, 75 episodes or so. You've had some career transition since that time. Take us through that a little bit. Yeah, well, thank you, Anthony, for having me back on. When we last hosted a podcast series with me on, I was working as an internal in-house consultant for the Florida's Turnpike Authority. And it was more of a consultant role that I was in, was there for a few years, really helping the client, you know, plan, budget, and execute projects from small transportation projects all the way up to two major multi-million dollar multi-year projects. But part of me, just due to my personality and due to my desire for my career, had always had a desire to get into more of a sales and business development role, really help companies take that next leap, moving forward with whatever goals they have as a business. And so I actually reached out to a couple of companies and realized that I think more of a product sale company was kind of more of a better fit for me. And so I started kind of putting some feelers out and got with a company in-situ form Technologies, who is currently looking to make these leaps and change directions and go into some new directions to help keep up with the aging infrastructure that we have in America. And so after a few interviews and a few some few discussions, I was fortunately asked to come on board and I've been here for the last five months or so, you know, trying to really push things in a new direction, you know, for the company. So it's been great. It's great. Congratulations on making that change. It's not always easy to make a career change. You kind of have to identify that you want to do something different and then go through the process. So what we're going to focus on here today, Steve, is pressurized pipeline and how it's related to the conversation around infrastructure. And we're going to really dive into that. The first thing I want to ask you though, and I think maybe a lot of our listeners will get this, but for some of our listeners who might practice in different disciplines or might be civil engineering students, just what is a pressurized pipeline to start? Yeah, of course, you know, of course, civil engineering is such a broad array of various infrastructure pieces, you know, from transportation to structural, so like, you know, skyscrapers and other buildings. But of course, we have the conveyance of, you know, water, gas, fuel, you know, whatever it may be throughout the whole country. And so a pressurized pipeline is essentially a pipe, whether it's steel, cast iron, concrete, that conveys a fluid, you know, whether it's water or wastewater or fuel, gas, oil, with a use of mostly, you know, pumps to get it from point A to point B where you don't have the topography helping you with, you know, a pipeline flow, you know, maybe from like a high part of a mountain down to a community. And so there are, you know, millions of feet, millions upon millions of feet of pressurized pipeline throughout the country that are underground and that most of us kind of take for granted. But the easiest example of what a pressurized, you know, pipeline is, is how you get your drinking water at your house or apartment, you know, that water being brought to you is coming from either a water tank somewhere in the near facility, and then being pumped and using gravity to come to your house. And so when you turn on that faucet, you know, you have that nice pressurized, you know, water flow. For sure. So, yeah, potable water, gas, as Steve recommended, you know, systems that are closed, whereas I did a lot of work in stonewater, you know, stonewater systems are typically open to the surface, right, water gets into catch basins and it flows by gravity, as Steve suggested for the most part. So in terms of these pressurized pipe systems, what is the landscape of the nation's existing pressurized pipeline infrastructure? Yeah, of course. You know, we, with Institute of Formed Technologies, you know, we partner up with the Trench to List Technology Center over at Louisiana State University, and they've done surveys and studies, and they have found that there are more than one million miles of water mains, you know, so potable water mains under pressure throughout the entire country. And this, you know, from pipe materials, from PVC to asbestos pipe, concrete pipe, cast iron, you know, ductile iron, and whatnot, a majority of that pipe material being cast iron. And of those one million miles of water main pipelines, over 60% of that quantity range from six to 10 inches in diameter. So we're not talking very huge pipe, but we're talking just a network, a vast network of pressurized pipe supplying potable water to various communities, various businesses, whatever it may be. And then on top of that, we also need to be able to treat, you know, waste water, right? So, you know, every time you go to the bathroom, every time you go to a restaurant and they're flushing everything down a sink, all that water needs to be conveyed to treatment plants. And so with that network of pipelines on the tail end of water use, there are over 60,000 miles of force mains with very similar pipe materials as the potable water side. Now, there's almost half of that 60,000 miles of force mains and other sewer pipelines under pressure. There's, you know, that the ranges from four to 12 inches in diameter. So again, a vast majority of pipelines underground are anywhere from four to 12 inches in diameter. Underground cannot be seen, but need to be addressed here in the near future. Yeah, that's amazing. And you know, when you talk about numbers like that, Steve, it again reinforces kind of the importance of what civil engineers do, you know, in relation to everyday life, you know, all of the, we're working on water systems that deliver, you know, potable water to people. And, you know, obviously potable water is critical to the health of the citizens of our countries and around the world. So to that end, you're talking about all of the different the amounts of these pressurized pipe systems. What is the risk associated with this aging infrastructure? Yeah, of course, you know, you kind of started with that risk is it's, you know, it's the, what is the, you know, the influence of the health of the communities. And so, you know, the risk that we see with aging infrastructure is, you know, both a financial and an environmental risk, right? So from financially speaking, you know, the longer you let an asset age and not be maintained or addressed, it's either going to deteriorate and fall apart, or it's going to provide some type of possible environmental risk or health risk, you know, maybe, you know, from, you know, bacteria or, you know, a pipe leak or whatever it may be to help to facilitate any type of infiltration from maybe an area of contamination. But also, you know, from a wastewater standpoint, if a pipe is leaking, then you have the influence of the environmental impact that could be very costly. And so really the risk is the longer we wait without addressing proper rehabilitation or replacement or improvement of infrastructure, it's going to be both more expensive and also more devastating to the surrounding communities. And so, you know, one example is your car, for example, you know, if you bought a car and did not maintain it, you know, did not do anything to it and just ran it, you know, put 20,000 plus miles on it per year, well, at some point, the repairs to that car are going to be astronomical, or you're going to be in a dire situation where the car is just going to give out and die on you. And then unfortunately, that happened to me back in college, my jeep, a little piece, you know, broke and I was stranded in the middle of the highway, you know, with a huge disruption to my weekly routine. But same thing applies to infrastructure, you know, if a water main breaks, now we have folks who are depending on that water for their daily use and or business. And so the longer we wait, the more costly and the more complicated things are going to be in the future. So need to address it now. Sure. And so, you know, all that makes sense. I mean, these are, you know, affect the health and well-being of the public. And, you know, they're aging. We need to fix them. We need to repair them. We need to improve them from an engineering perspective. You know, everyone out there, if they heard this podcast and they were just, you know, non-engineers and say, oh, that's great. Let's fix everything. But from an engineering perspective, what are the challenges in trying to address this aging infrastructure, these pressurized lines that are old and kind of decrepit? Yeah, definitely. You know, there's many challenges and, you know, engineering wouldn't be engineering if there were no challenges that we had to tackle with various agencies and various items. And so a few of these challenges are the fact that there is a growing population within this country in various areas. But, you know, people continue, the population can use the growth where the demand is still high for potable water and to be able to treat the wastewater after that initial potable water is used. And so with that, there's also an economic challenge of disruption that we're trying to avoid. Because again, that's, there's the direct cost of replacing materials and using the labor to do so. But there's also an indirect cost of how much a cost of community when you do disrupt a local business and get in there and not be as efficient as we can. So from an engineering standpoint, trying to find that optimal position where we can address the issues and then tackle those challenges. But while still being very efficient and innovative with our ways of methods of construction. And so with that, there's also the challenge of bypassing this water. So again, like I said, society demands a certain amount of water per day and it's reliant on that water. And so being able to continue to supply that water while under construction is a huge challenge that we need to be able to tackle. You know, one example is the transportation world. We see it all everywhere where we have constructed on the highways, but they're not having to shut down the entire highway to perform either a widening or resurfacing or some type of work on that roadway. And so again, same thing applies with the underground pressurized pipeline infrastructure is that there needs to be a way for society to continue forward while still addressing the issues. And it may sound expensive now, but it would be even more expensive if we were to wait and not address it, you know, today. Right. So, you know, it's obvious just from our conversation so far that there's a lot of these pipelines they're aging and the longer we wait to fix them or rehab them, it's going to cost a lot more money and potentially cause a lot of damage. So while there are risks involved, what are some things that can be done, techniques, strategies for renewing or rehabilitating this infrastructure? Because I know that that's something that you get to work on now. Yeah, absolutely. So really when it comes when it boils down to is that you have the traditional way of performing rehab work for underground pipelines is to dig and replace. And in some cases, you know, this makes sense. It's the most efficient. There's a least amount of disruption. But the great thing about where we've come in the engineering community is that there have been technologies that have developed and matured over the last several years that have been able to address the added challenges and the newer challenges that we face, trying to rehabilitate various pipelines underground. And so with that, the realm of trenchless technologies is really kind of where everything will kind of fall under. And so you have essentially your trench methods of replacing or rehabilitating pipelines, but then you have your trenchless. And within those trenchless realm, there's a few objectives that we're trying to achieve. And one is to extend the life of the existing infrastructure, which is one of the main goals. And then asking yourself, do we need a structural solution, or do we have a good pipe, but it's just leaking? So do we need just more of a semi-structural design to stop maybe some unfortunate leaking? And of course, one of the objectives with trenchless is really trying to minimize the disruption in the local community. Like I said, it's kind of more of an indirect cost. It's harder to quantify that impact. But if you talk to any local council member or local leader, there is a type of cost to that. And then of course, from a health perspective, being NSF 61 rated for potable water is always the goal as well. So with that, there are a variety of options that we can choose from from what we call a cured-in-place pipe. It's essentially a pipe within a pipe that is inverted or pulled through and inflated. And then that can cure in place. We also have a fiber reinforced polymer that essentially goes up like wallpaper for larger diameters. There's pipe bursting, where a head will come through the existing pipe. Essentially, break that pipe apart and then pull a new pipe through. We have spray-in-place pipe that you essentially kind of like when you texture a wall at your house. It's a cementitious material that's sprayed along the pipe that then builds up thickness for rehabilitation. And of course, there's slip lining, which you're pulling a smaller pipe within a larger host pipe to be able to convey that fluid or that medium or media, whatever you are pulling through. So with these options out there, the whole idea is trying to add tools to your toolbox for engineers and agencies to consider. Sometimes a few of them are not a good fit, but in many cases, at least one or two of these options are a good choice to at least consider because when you look at the traditional way of performing this work, there's a lot of add-on cost that may not be apparent upfront but is realized further down the road with the project details. And so things like restoration, things like traffic control, that there's a cost to that. And of course, the longer schedules that it takes when you dig everything up, utility conflict risk with digging everything up. And so you don't know what's underground until you get it to it, which could be very costly at the time. And so all these factors go into being able to consider a trenchless method as a viable feasible alternative, if not the main purpose. And so a few of the questions that are typically asked when going down this route is what type of problems is a pipeline system experiencing? So that kind of goes into you're really trying to answer and get to what is the actual issue that we're having. And so another question is, how much longer do I need this asset? I mean, is are we trying to have a brand new design life incorporated or does the pipe just need to carry another few years before a bigger project comes in? But right now something needs to occur. And of course, additional capacity in the pipeline, what are we looking at as far as demand? There are many projects throughout the country where they are upsizing their pipelines. And so to meet and keep up with the demand, but in many, many other cases, we are looking at just rehabilitating the pipe size works just great, but we just need to be able to replace it appropriately. And then of course, there's always the multiple services connections that we may have off of a potable water line to help serve those communities, the houses, the apartments, the businesses that becomes a big challenge that we need to tackle. So Steve, all that being said, sounds like some really good potential solutions for different scenarios potentially. And you gave some questions there that engineers can walk through with their clients or agencies to determine whether or not these are good solutions for a specific project. But if the answer is yes, if the answer is these are potentially good solutions, what are the steps in terms of an engineer specifying these items, finding out more information, putting them on their plans, walking a contractor through them? Tell us about that step in the process if they decide this is right for them? Yeah, of course. So again, it starts with what kind of landscape, what kind of issues are any engineer or agency experiencing at this time? And so where it starts is trying to break the ice on even thinking outside the box. So that's where I step in as my role to help these engineers and agencies understand what are the other options. I know in my garage, I like to have a toolbox full of different unique different little tools to be able to address any issue that may come up. But I need to understand and know what's in my toolbox before I could properly apply those items and those ideas to certain scenarios. And so that's where it really starts at day one of planning and or design. And so if an engineer just got a contract with an agency to take a look at a pipeline that needs to be addressed or maybe like a network of pipelines in a small community or whatnot, it really starts at day one understanding what's in the toolbox. And then coupling that with the challenges and the objectives of that project and then having those two mesh together to come up with the most optimal solution. Trying to, of course, there's always the top three. There's high quality under budget and within ahead of schedule. And so trying to meet all of those as best possible is the ultimate goal now. We all know from the construction world and then overall engineering roles that between quality schedule and cost, you get to pick two that one of them is going to suffer, but trying to minimize the total impact while still providing a high quality product is the ultimate goal. So for those listening and you're wondering, when should I incorporate this stuff? The answer is at any time you should consider it, but the optimal time is to get it early in design. So I am available to for calls or emails or you can reach me on my LinkedIn account to message me on any type of questions you may have, but it really starts with the engineer moving forward. That's great. And we're going to link to all of Steve's information and the show notes for this podcast on our website as well as below this video on YouTube. So what we're going to do now is we're going to come back in just a minute and we're going to put Steve on the civil engineer hot seat. And really, since he's been on it before, we're going to talk to him about his recent career transition a little bit as there might be some things that you could take out of it if you're thinking about making a transition in your career moving forward. I hope you are enjoying this episode of the civil engineering podcast, which is produced by the Engineering Management Institute. Please be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel here for more podcast episodes. And for all of our engineering manager, 20 short videos that we publish weekly where we interview successful engineering managers. Now it's time to jump into our civil engineering hot seat segment. We're back with Steve Saldati, civil engineer within situ form. And he told us a lot about pressurized pipe systems and how we can kind of help with rehabilitating some of them going forward. However, what I want to focus on in the hot seat segment today is Steve recently made this kind of transition career transition, you know, civil engineering is a big, big field with a lot of different disciplines. And Steve was doing something different. And about six months or so ago, he made the transition. So Steve, take us through a little bit your thought process of why you wanted to make a transition and how you approach the entire process. Yeah, of course. So for, you know, for me, it goes all the way back to college. You know, I knew I wanted to major in an engineering degree or program, which, you know, ended up being civil. But I, in the back of my mind, I always had an interest in on the business side, you know, of things. I even came close to minoring in a business degree. But just, you know, you know, any engineering student knows that, you know, the engineering workload is or classwork is heavy enough. And so I end up not officially going that route of trying to earn a minor in business, but always had that interest. And so, you know, kind of fast forward to, you know, my graduation, fortunately, I graduated in 2009. So right when the recession was, was at its peak and trying to, you know, get into some work. But I got into construction early on, because the Army Corps of Engineers had already appropriated a bunch of funding for some work. And so I was fortunate to get on some some work in construction and really kind of see that side of the industry. But, you know, all through my 20s, you know, the goal was to get as much exposure as possible. And so with that, you know, saying yes to many opportunities and, and, you know, given 110% on certain tasks and new responsibilities. Now, if you know, kind of fast forward to my late 20s, you know, long story short, made a life move to from California to Florida. Now I'm looking for another job at that time back in 2014. And, you know, from there, I knew that I had limited experience wanted, you know, in Florida, and also limited experience outside of federal government projects in construction. So, you know, with that, I knew that something had to kind of give from my end. And so I just decided to kind of shotgun out a variety of calls, you know, emails, you know, work, work current connections that I had with ASCE and other, you know, society communities. And ultimately that led to, you know, a job with with the company and the transportation world, which was great. And so, so, you know, I did, you know, my time there got into a in-house consulting position where, you know, again, I was helping clients, specifically the Florida's Turnback Enterprise plan, budget, and execute their work program. So from projects, you know, small like replacing some some street lighting all the way up to helping to execute projects to expand a roadway network. And so a variety of different projects, you really need to kind of have that type of personality where you try to rally the troops, you know, get the teams together, have open communication, and just be somebody that others want to work with you. Because I know that within the engineering community, there is a wide variety of personalities of types of people, types of different types of roles and responsibilities, you know, it's not just engineering, but there's engineering, there's contracts, there's planners. And so really trying to be that person to bring everyone together to tackle solutions, because there's always challenges every week. And so, but for me, you know, that was a great exposure, great experience, but it was so focused on, you know, projects that still had that desire to kind of get that sales and business development experience under my belt, and to have more of a business focus rather than just a project focus. And so for me, you know, I was, you know, looking around, I felt like the, the type of business that would best suit to meet my desire for my career was a company that sells a product versus a consulting company. And so, you know, I interviewed, you know, with this company Institute for Technologies, and they were looking to, you know, make changes, you know, make, you know, go, go in new directions and trying to keep up with, with the demand within the, the pressurized pipeline industry. And so for me, that was very exciting to, to start something new, you know, I was, you know, I'm in my young 30s, I'm still kind of really trying to, you know, you know, increase my career growth. And so for me, this was a really exciting opportunity to, to test out, you know, what I thought, what I think I, I may have as far as, as far as a skill set thus far, and then develop, continue to develop my skill set within this realm. You know, again, for me, you know, just my personality being an engineer, I really like to be around people, meet new people, develop relationships, continue on. And so that's just, you know, a part of me that is really being able to come up with a good game plan. That's great. And so it sounds to me like, Steve, you made two big transitions, one of course, moving from California to Florida, relocating across the country, which is huge in terms of lifestyle change and career transition. But then secondly, you made a second career transition change recently from one type of work in the world of civil engineering to another type more business and sales treatment. But it sounds like that one of the biggest factors in helping you to make these transitions successfully was kind of the network of people that you built around you. Is that accurate? Yes, absolutely. I can't say enough about the, the type, the network of people within the engineering community, and specifically the civil, because I don't have the experience with, you know, mechanical or the tech or any of that. But within the civil community, you know, going from, you know, an entry level position all even all the way up to, you know, when you hit 30 years old and even beyond the community, you know, the world around you becomes a lot smaller, the more experience you get and the more people you meet. And so it's actually pretty unbelievable of just how many degrees of separation are right around you that, you know, the whole like six degrees of separation, you know, idea that can be said for the engineering community as well. And it might even be smaller than that, you know, maybe even like two or three degrees. But my first boss and first mentor, Larry Smith, from the Corps of Engineers, was a huge help, you know, with that and actually helped set my foundation for my career. And I can't thank him enough for what he did way back then. But just he showed me just how much it means to have that community with whether it's ASCE, whether it's the, you know, National Society of Professional Engineers, you know, whether it's SWE, you know, whatever it may be, having that community, being able to get out and get those connections is paramount for career growth. And not just career growth, but also just flexibility. You know, we live in a world where, you know, it's so easy to fly from East Coast to West Coast and the communication is so much more open than it used to be. And so, but, you know, one caveat to that is that, you know, because I had a lot of students when I was part of the ASCE Young Memory Forum is, you know, they're very, very afraid that they won't quite be as impressive as they think they should be. But, you know, it's not about going out there and trying to be like the best thing since sliced bread, but rather going out there and just putting a face to the name, you know, being out, you know, going out there and saying, hey, you know, I'm so-and-so, I'm here, this is where I work. And then things will grow organically from there. But it's just a matter of just, you know, getting out. So if there's a happy hour that maybe a local group is having, just go out there and meet a couple new people. You don't need to meet the whole group that night, but just start with a couple people, you know, or if you know somebody within your office going to an event, you know, that's a great icebreaker, you know, to go with. And then from there it will slowly evolve to all of a sudden, you know, somebody maybe wanting to go work in like the Northwest United States. And then through a couple people, they have a foot in because what I remember from moving to Florida is that when I called up on an engineer asking for any open positions, you know, first question was, you know, who the heck are you? Second question is, do you have any Florida experience? Well, no and no. But it's so much easier to make a cold call when there's already a mutual connection there. And so people tend to just be a little more open when you have those connections already in place. So. So there you have it, if you're considering a career transition as a civil engineering professional, what I take away from Steve's experience here is really two things. Number one, think about your strengths, the skills that, you know, the things that you do well and the things that you want to do and look for, of course, career opportunities where you can incorporate them and use them on a daily basis. And secondly, you know, lean on your network to help you find that transition or, you know, navigate that transition because it's obvious from Steve's experience that the network is a critical component of it. And we preach about that all the time on the podcast, get involved with ASCE, get involved with professional associations, local community organizations because it's just going to help you with all of that. So Steve Soldati, civil engineer from in situ form technologies. Thank you so much for coming back and visiting us again on the civil engineering podcast. Oh, thank you very much. I think it was a pleasure talking with you. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the civil engineering podcast on YouTube produced by the Engineering Management Institute. We're always looking for new ways to help engineers become effective managers and leaders. You can view all of our content on our website at engineeringmanagementinstitute.org and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel here for our weekly videos. Until next time, please continue to engineer your own success.