Horizontal Directional Drilling is Better for the Environment

Horizontal Directional Drilling is Better for the Environment

Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), also known as horizontal earth boring, or directional boring, entails using a surface drilling rig to install utilities such as cables, underground pipes, and other conduits.

HDD steers in a shallow arc through a predetermined bore path instead of traditional open-cut trenching. Skilled operators guide the drill head remotely to circumvent obstacles and maintain a bore path consistent with plan specifications.

Besides saving time, money and ensuring precision, a great advantage of HDD is its environmental benefits. Traditional open-cut trenching requires additional space, often causing considerable disruption, and can be unsightly. HDD, however, facilitates the installation of underground utilities with a marginal impact on the environment, making HDD the best method to use in environmentally delicate zones and urban areas.

Urban Areas

Open-cut trenching can destroy infrastructure, whether below or above the ground, leading to expensive restoration costs and annoying traffic disruption.

However, being trenchless, HDD does not necessitate constructing above-ground trenches and is minimally invasive to the immediate environment of the construction site, causing less traffic interference and even less noise pollution. Because of its precision, it also ensures that restoration to structures and roadways is less expensive.

Environmentally Sensitive Lands

Much like HDD negating the need to construct trenches or other infrastructures such as piers or dams around wetlands, rivers, or streams, it also allows for the creation of horizontal bores without significant impact on the surrounding environment. HDD also has minimal effect on soil sedimentation, navigating easily around sensitive slopes and steep inclinations.

HDD can finalize installations in forested lands without excavation, which also minimizes the impact on wildlife. HDD is therefore also ideal for areas inhabited by protected wildlife and other environmentally sensitive or protected lands. The reduced noise and air pollution also reduce the likelihood that indigenous wildlife will flee. Prime agricultural areas also benefit from HDD, maximizing crop preservation and facilitating mud drilling.

HDD Saves Time and Lowers Costs

Horizontal Directional Drilling also takes considerably less time than conventional open-cut trenching. A simple horizontal bore can be completed in a week, while somewhat more complex, but standard bores usually take between 4-6 weeks on average, including installing the utility.

By contrast, conventional trenching methods are far more time-consuming. It can take weeks to fully excavate a pre-existing utility with additional restoration time on top of that to make the environment habitable again. Because there is far less damage to the immediate environment with HDD, restoration is also less time-consuming.

Time is money, so saving time naturally helps to cut costs as well. Bore operators spend less time on projects with HDD resulting in direct project cost savings. The reduced damage to the environment also creates savings in the restoration process, as restoration is shorter and less work. HDD also requires less equipment than open-cut trenching, leading to considerably lower construction costs.

Indirectly, it also reduces risks of inadvertent costs from accidental damage not accounted for in the planning and budgeting stages.

Reduced Carbon Footprint

Preliminary studies have estimated that trenchless pipelines and other utility construction methods such as HDD can result in 78-100% lower greenhouse gas emissions than open-cut trenching. These results are due to decreased energy consumption, reduced air pollution, shorter time spent on installations, less construction equipment, and reduced disruption to traffic flows when drilling occurs in urban areas.

Trenchless projects using HDD comply more easily with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, which can also be a considerable cost saver. We understand the importance of Environmental Value Engineering (EVE) and take pride in performing work with 66.69% less impact on the environment than conventional open-cut trenching.

Boreworx: Integrity Over Profit

At Boreworx, respect for the environment combined with safety is paramount. We thoroughly plan every bore we carry out with the requisite approvals and prioritize worker safety above all else. Before we dig, we consistently obtain the mandatory clearances from Texas 811, so you can feel confident that your project is compliant with regional guidelines. Thanks to our safeguard measures, we have customers who remain loyal after 20 years. Boreworx has a well-earned reputation for combining safety with success.

With decades of experience in Horizontal Direct Drilling and the successful installation of thousands of feet of conduit for all types of companies across Texas, we train our operators to handle a broad range of construction machinery that prioritizes the environment and meets your needs.

Contact us for a quote by completing our quote request form, and a member of our team will be in touch within 24 hours.