Town of Hillsborough issued the following announcement on July 21.
The Town of Hillsborough expects to smoke test sewer lines at the entrance to Exchange Club Park the week of July 25, weather permitting.
Access to park facilities will not be affected. The survey of the sewer system will be conducted to determine whether any issues exist in the lateral service line connecting to the Exchange Club building, 331 Exchange Park Lane.
Inflow or infiltration into sewer lines from rain, surface water or groundwater can cause sewage overflows, damaging the environment and costing the town and sewer customers money.
Smoke testing basics
The “smoke” used for testing is not a fire hazard and is a nontoxic, low-odor, water-based vapor. The color is white or gray, and it will not stain surfaces it contacts.
During the testing, smoke is blown into the sewer system through manholes to help utilities employees search for cracks and broken pipes that typically wouldn’t be seen otherwise. The smoke appears where problems are, such as the ground, manholes, storm sewer catch basins, yard drains, road cracks, private sewer laterals or sewer cleanouts.
Sewer laterals are pipes that connect indoor plumbing to the sewer main. Sewer cleanouts are capped pipes that provide access to the sewer line so blockages can be removed. These capped pipes protrude from the ground.
Original source can be found here.
