Trenchless technology refers to the “no-dig” construction and/or rehabilitation processes. Here is a simple and straightforward definition, courtesy of the NASTT website:

[Trenchless technology refers to] a family of construction techniques for installing or rehabilitating underground infrastructure with minimal disruption to surface traffic, businesses, and residents. Also includes technologies for inspection, leak location, and leak detection with minimal disruption and minimal excavation from the ground surface.

Trenchless construction includes such construction methods as tunneling, microtunneling, horizontal directional drilling, pipe ramming, pipe jacking, auger boring and other methods for the installation of pipelines and cables below the ground with minimal excavation. On the rehabilitation side, Trenchless rehabilitation includes such construction methods as sliplining, thermoformed pipe, pipe bursting, cured-in-place pipe (CIPP), grout-in-place pipe, mechanical spot repair, and other methods for the repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of existing buried pipes and structures without excavation, or at least with minimal excavation.