WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) – A Purdue University engineering report recommends states require standardized testing to safeguard against environmental contamination caused by a widely used method for rehabilitating aging drainage culverts.

<span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px;”>Assistant engineering professor Andrew Whelton says the nation's culvert infrastructure is decaying and states have no standardized product test method that screens out technologies or construction practices that cause environmental damage. He says there is evidence that a frequently using technology called cured-in-place pipe have caused fish kills, negatively affected wastewater treatment plants, and resulted in daycare center, school, and government building evacuations.

Whelton says a newly developed modified procedure can be used on freshly manufactured pipe rehabilitation materials to potentially screen out hazardous materials.