Massive sinkhole in Saitama highlights risk of old pipes

severe as this is, I think it's the tip of the proverbial, as infrastructure of all sorts, everywhere, reaches or passes its use-by date.....

So we're just going to treat the old guy as some statistics? No compassion or empathy?

Massive sinkhole in Saitama highlights risk of old pipes

It also highlights the risk of poor construction, poor oversight, and poor rescue plans.

What a sad situation. Have they tried just winching the darn truck out of there?

Emergency workers have been striving in vain to reach the 74-year-old man, who rescuers have had no contact with for a week, and who was likely buried under sediment and sewage water in the sinkhole in the city of Yashio.

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Unfortunately, the truck must have been buried under tons of effluent as there is no way millions of people would suddenly just stop using their lavatories.

After reading this shocking and sad report, I can;t help but think that not enough has been done in the rescue effort. The JSDF probably could have extracted the man in minutes. Couldn't some local contractor have used an electromagnet crane? And, regarding the sinkhole, all they need to do is create air vortexes to send thru the pipes to make sure they don't collapse further. There are videos on YouTube that show how to make DIY air vortex cannons. With all these resources unused it seems such a shame. Still hoping for a miracle. The poor driver must be terrified down there.

Are we to take this as subterranean rivers of sewage could swallow up anyone anywhere at anytime?

Perhaps local or prefectural governments could periodically go out and use ground penetrating radar to survey roads and identify possible sinkholes before they collapse.

It also highlights the risk of poor construction, poor oversight, and poor rescue plans.

When they were having a meeting and speaking one by one, the window for rescue closed.

Ambulances in Japan saunter politely across the city and take their sweet old time.

Billions of dollars for American missiles but no funds for replacing old pipes!

Smh.

The old brick-built sewer tunnels need replacing and repairs.

Perhaps people should be building things so that they can be accessed and repaired rather than just burying them and hoping for the best?

As saddening as this story is, it also serves to remind as we need better disaster management strategies. The loss of this senior citizen should not be in vain but a reminder of our shortcomings especially when dealing with old infrastructures.

Massive sinkhole in Saitama highlights risk of old pipes

Fixing THAT is something tax payers money should go to, instead of vanity projects and supporting American proxy wars.

151E

Perhaps local or prefectural governments could periodically go out and use ground penetrating radar to survey roads and identify possible sinkholes before they collapse.

I actually came across one in Tokyo the other day, in the Musashikoyama area. Not as massive as the one in Saitama, and nobody fell in, but it could have been deadly for bike rider like me. Seems the problem is bigger than just Saitama.

The replacement of the old brick sewers would be a massive cost and disruption. There has to be a way to install new plastic pipes inside the old brick ones without digging up thousands of kilometers of roads.

Aaron Wright - well said

Good article in the use of steel-reinforced sewage pipes which were popular post war as it says above. (Brick construction is not part of the present problem.) The problem in Japan is the corrosive sewer gases which attack the integrity of the concrete used.

Materials Used for Construction of Sewer | Sewage | Sanitary Engineering

(From www.engineeringnotes.com, for educational purposes.)

Quote: Now a days cement concrete is extensively used in the construction of sewer lines. These may be precast or cast in situ. Precast pipes are manufactured by centrifugal process using steel reinforcement, and are known as ‘Hume Pipes’. Hume pipes are manufactured in 10 cm to 250 cm in diameter and in 1.0 m to 3 m lengths.

These pipes are strong, smooth and light in weight. These are generally joined by collar joints. Plain concrete pipes may be used up to 60 cm diameter but above it the pipes must be reinforced. Precast pipes are manufactured in factories and are then transported to the site. The reinforcement of R.C.C. pipes consists of a welded steel cylinder or steel wire mesh.

Cement concrete pipes are not more durable and have short life, because they are corroded by sanitary sewage gases. These are most suitable for combined-sewer and storm water sewer, because in such cases its life is increased.

These pipes are subjected to corrosion where acid discharges are carried in the sewer or where the velocities are not sufficient to prevent the septic conditions or where the soil is highly acidic or contains excessive sulphates. Protective coatings should be used inside outside where excessive corrosion is likely to occur. Only high alumina cement concrete should be used when the sewer is exposed to corrosive sewage or industrial wastes.

The poor driver must be terrified down there.

Sadly, I think a week is more than even a young, healthy man could endure in those conditions. I have little hope for a rescue.

Its sewer pipe was broken despite within useful life.

on the other hand, Japan's LDP government restarts superannuated nuclear plants over useful life one after another.

ok, I am good for a few minutes on this. Brick transit sewers can be renovated by manual treatment whilst over-pumping between access chambers, but it is still a brick structure. ground is always moving, W.T, changing. cheaper to install a new liner and grout the annulus.

Sewers and storm waters (gravity) can be lined with a grp fibre whilst overpumping. tech around for decades now (relatively cheap), used inside the steel pipes. Water mains are shallow above the drains, and are pressure pipes, typically a M.D.P.E. liner. Very costly, all T-junctions need excavating for replacement. Water mains cause most wash out problems. Fresh water leakage costs millions $$$ rehab costs, amortize them. Some experienc there, sewers are stinky, deep to shallow sewerstormwaterutility inc gas. hope that bored you silly.

Perhaps local or prefectural governments could periodically go out and use ground penetrating radar to survey roads and identify possible sinkholes before they collapse.

Done. This particular intersection was surveyed four years ago.

Its sewer pipe

A box culvert, not a pipe, in fact. In Japanese, ボックス カルバット。

Are we to take this as subterranean rivers of sewage could swallow up anyone anywhere at anytime?

Yes, and it will continue to happen in Japan and other parts of the world. Stuff of nightmares and infastructure engineers. Perhaps it will be come a new horror movie topic, like the old movies of the swamp creatures in lagoons, and scifi type movies like the 1966 Fantastic Voyage, except in this case it might be a submarine crew who is shrunk to microscopic size and sent forth to scope out aging pipes. Who knows what evil lies in the pipes under Tokyo and other cities?

Outmoded infrastructure lies beneath many major cities in the world, and sinkholes will become more common, unfortunately.

Roten

Yes, and it will continue to happen in Japan and other parts of the world. Stuff of nightmares and infastructure engineers. Perhaps it will be come a new horror movie topic, like the old movies of the swamp creatures in lagoons

Except this time it is reality. Imagine suddenly falling into a hole, getting seriously injured, and then subsquently being covered by mud and finally drowning in sewage. My heart really goes out to this guy. Nobody deserves that.