ACPA establishes professional membership for engineers

IRVING, TEXAS—To mark its 100-year relationship with America’s engineers and to recognize that concrete pipe and boxes are engineered products widely used for public works that protect the health and safety of Americans, the American Concrete Pipe Association (ACPA) opened its membership to professional engineers. Professional membership is limited to any individual, firm, partnership, or corporation that is actively engaged in specifying, designing, or providing consulting or other professional services to the ACPA, its members, or the precast concrete pipe and box culvert industry, as defined by ASTM Committee C-13.

The ACPA was founded in 1907 in Ames, Iowa, as the Interstate Cement Tile Manufacturers Association. A small group of concrete farm drain tile manufacturers gathered to exchange ideas and standardize their precast products. The organization changed its name in 1914. According to ACPA, use of concrete pipe in the United States was documented first as a sanitary sewer in Mohawk, N.Y., in 1842, and in 10 other urban areas prior to the yellow fever epidemic of 1873. Following the epidemic, 20 major cities installed sanitary sewer systems using concrete pipe.

Details about the new "Professional Membership" category are posted on the ACPA’s website.