Clay tile laterals were laid in short sections with joints that were never waterproof - they did not need to be, until tree roots found the moisture gradient at every joint. A century in, the pipe itself is usually sound; the joints are the story: offset by soil movement, infiltrated by roots, catching solids on the lip.
Management works while the geometry holds: root cutting restores flow, and a camera every few years watches the offsets. The management era ends when a joint offsets enough to form a shelf - then it is a repair of that section, located precisely by the camera, not a whole-line replacement by default.
The worst outcome is the uninformed one: years of emergency cleanings at emergency prices for a line one camera inspection would have explained in an afternoon.
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