About Us
PICA has been performing condition assessments of pipelines in the USA and Canada since the early 1990's. Our home office is located in Alberta, Canada near where our sister company (Russell NDE Systems Inc.) designs and manufactures the In-Line Inspection Tools that PICA uses.
Our specialty is a unique electromagnetic technology, contained in flexible, pressure sealed, in-line inspection Tools, that allow ferritic pipelines (ductile iron, cast-iron and steel) to be inspected for corrosion pits, graphitic corrosion, eroded areas and cracks. Customers who take a proactive approach to assess the condition of their pipelines using our Tools report savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in one case over $10,000,000!
Our strength is in our people. Our sister company employs the team that engineered the original Tools and have since gone on to develop even better electronics, hardware and software used in our modern See Snake and HydraSnake Tools to inspect water, waste water and other water pipelines. PICA, the operating arm of the group, has a seasoned team of engineers who manage our field services and a gifted data analysis team who report the results of the inspection work to our clients.
Our clients are world-wide water and waste water pipeline owners and operators. Typically they are progressive companies who wish to pro-actively manage their buried assets and extend their pipelines' useful life past the original expected life of 50 to 100 years. They also enjoy the benefit of being able to place a value on their buried assets by quantitatively knowing their condition, and being able to make informed decisions on spot repairs, rehabilitation or replacement.
PICA offers in-Line Inspection Services for pipelines in the following industries:
- Potable Water
- Waste Water
- Raw Water
- Fire Water (used in all industrial plants to fight fires)
- Slurry lines and "Slick Lines" used in mines to transport cement slurry underground
- Steel water well casings
- Salt water disposal lines
- Other water pipelines, such as cooling water for thermal and nuclear power stations
Our sister company uses similar Tools to inspect Oil and Gas pipelines: www.russelltech.com
For non-ferrous pipelines we offer novel ultrasonic Tools .
For 3D mapping of pipelines we offer a "Geo-Tool" which maps all bends, joints, valves and other pipeline features.
All Tools are detectable from above ground, and their progress through the pipeline can be monitored in real-time.
For those on a budget, or with small piping systems, we offer the following alternate technologies:
- an external condition monitoring technique that can detect external and internal wall loss caused by corrosion, erosion, graphitic corrosion and cracking. This service uses a unique technology known as "Through Transmission" and is embodied in our Bracelet Probes. This is suitable for pipe exposed in an excavation, or above ground piping in a pumping station. The piping may be insulated or bare.
- CCTV for pipelines larger than 12". Our CCTV crawler has a limit of 2km (longest in the industry) and the usual pan, tilt, zoom and voice-over capabilities. (New for 2016). This is suitable for gravity and storm sewers, waste water pipes and potable water pipes where access is available through chambers and manholes.
- Free swimming, self contained leak detection device (New for 2016). This device can be launched through an ARV or other small access port and travels with the flow. It is neutrally buoyant and therefore cannot get trapped by objects in the pipe that are resting on the bottom. It is trackable from above ground and "knows where it is" by detecting sounding devices placed on the pipe at intervals that are GPS located.
For more information write info@picacorp.com or call +1-800-661-0127
PICA is BBB registered and ISNetworld (safety) certified
Contact us at the nearest local office (see Contact page)