Much ado has been made about the invention of fire and the wheel by our ancestors. But what’s the true mark of human civilization? A quality, well-maintained plumbing and sewer system. In other words, making sure that the toilets run on time.

That might seem like a flushable fact, but the most advanced early civilizations had complex municipal pipe systems that set them apart from other early settlements. A well planned sewage system made life in early cities possible in the first place. Even here in the 21st century, maintaining a city’s water and sewer system is a complex endeavor that can cost taxpayers millions of dollars in repairs every year.

Until recently, the problem with pipe bursting repairs was their groundbreaking nature, literally. Sewer and pipe repair required digging ugly trenches through the ground, breaking up roads and yards. Now, trenchless pipe repair allows plumbers to use cutting-edge drilling technology to lay new pipes without any holes or trenches at all.

Trenchless pipe repair utilizes Cured-In-Place-Pipes, jointless, seamless pipes specially designed to replace or repair existing burst pipes. In the short time CIPP has been available it has already been used to rehabilitate almost 10,000 miles of sewer pipes around the world.

Even better, the CIPP process is designed to last for up to 50 years, saving homeowners and cities more money in the long run. Rather than just slapping a bandage on a broken pipe, CIPP technology helps fix the problem for decades to come. CIPP and trenchless sewer repair bring a new level of sophistication to a very old problem.

Of the $1.5 billion spent on repairing potable water pipes in the United States, trenchless pipe repair accounts for 13% of the market. Trenchless sewer replacement and repair is also trending upward, accounting for half of the more than $3 billion spent in that market. As more Americans move to large cities, these new technologies allow aging plumbing systems to get the toilets running on time.