Our Projects
Root Control Specialists – Our Past Projects and Ongoing Initiatives
Duke’s Root Control is proud of the services we provide to municipalities across the U.S. Our teams support long-term success with solutions that are grounded in quality workmanship and are produced with integrity and leadership.
View our past projects and ongoing initiatives to gain an in-depth looking at the services we provide:
Duke’s helps a vibrant city in the Pacific Northwest meet the main objectives of its decree: reduce infiltration and inflow (I&I), as well as sanitary sewer overflows. The consent decree contains a number of work requirements to achieve those goals, including the annual rehabilitation of 2.6 miles of sewer main with associated manholes and lower laterals, pump station renovation, implementation of a private sewer lateral program, a rigorous cleaning and inspection program, and root control, among other requirements.
The city has been working with Duke’s since 2014 to remove roots from its mainlines, which consists of a total of 110,578 ft of pipe in its Root Foaming program. Pipe sizes ranging from 6 in. to 21 in., of which 86% are in the 6 in. to 8 in. range.
Duke’s applies RazoRooter® II, an herbicide-laden, thick foam with the consistency of heavy shaving cream. Our crew inserts a hose from manhole to manhole, and the entire system is treated as the foam compresses against pipe surfaces and penetrates cracks, joints, and connecting sewers. Roots are killed on contact inside and outside the pipe walls, decaying naturally and sloughing away, with regrowth delayed for two to three years. This does not harm trees or other above ground vegetation.
Issue: A neighborhood in Missouri had a heavily root-bound easement. Access was difficult, as the 1,280-foot line traveled across the backyards of houses and was situated on a lake. The line was laid unevenly, which gave roots more opportunity to invade. There were continual blockages, with several houses experiencing backups, and the municipality put the easement on a saw, cut, and flush routine program, that was conducted twice a year. However, they were also called out for emergencies in between the maintenance visits, as there were consistent problems.
Solution: Duke’s applied RazoRooter® II to the entire easement. The hose released and sprayed the foam in all directions, allowing it to adhere to roots and penetrate through Wye connections to kill those roots, without harming trees or other aboveground vegetation.
Result: A few months after the foam was applied in January, the city ran its CCTV through the pipe and the roots had decayed, “like you see cigarette ashes crumble,” said the operations manager for the city. “Our camera made it right through the pipe. We haven’t had any blockages since. This has saved our city a tremendous amount on time, lost wages, and expenses. We can rededicate the time we were spending to different areas of the town.”
In order to provide a comprehensive risk management program for its 500 municipalities, Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group partnered with Duke’s to provide sewer root control treatments to participating municipalities. In one city, 14,000 linear feet were inspected, and Duke’s acoustic inspection identified significant blockages and poor scores. The lines were treated using Duke’s RazoRooter® II an herbicide-laden, thick foam that kills roots on contact, penetrating through Wye connections and also killing roots in laterals.
Upon inspection of manholes after treatment, there were no stoppages and no overflows in the city. RazoRooter® II allows roots to decay naturally and slough away, with regrowth delayed for two to three years.
