Duke University is ranked in the top 10 of U.S. universities. Duke University Medical Center is the youngest of the nation's leading medical centers and the hub of the Duke University Health System, a world-class health care network providing outstanding patient care, educating tomorrow's health care leaders and discovering new and better ways to treat disease through biomedical research.

The university's School of Medicine includes Basic Science and Clinical Sciences Departments, School of Nursing, Physician Assistant Program, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Allied Health, Clinical Pastoral Education Duke and Community Medical Education.

With all that going on, medical, training and research waste that had slowly accumulated over many years came back to haunt the University Hospital. Much like the clogged arteries hospitals routinely deal with, the efficient flow through the garbage disposal pipes diminished from 20" capacity to 10" or less as layer upon layer of combined waste materials built up like plaque. Trenchless America tackled the problem with 'industrial angioplasty' using proprietary technology exclusive to Trenchless America and Pipe Genie.

The reduction in flow-through capacity from 20" to 10" had created a high-maintenance situation because the line was plugging up weekly and needed to be manually cleaned to the extent possible. This was the best solution at the time but highly unreliable from the points of view of system reliability and cost efficiency. 

The photos below tell a pictorial story about how this operation was performed successfully over period of 12 days with crews working 16 hours per day. The final result, however, was bringing the all-important waste system back on line and functioning at full capacity.