Artificial intelligence is spreading across every area of our lives, from ride-sharing apps to spam filters to smart personal assistants. In the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has also seeped into the wastewater industry in the form of automated defect coding. AI promises major benefits over traditional operator inspection, mostly in the form of lower error rates and faster inspection times.

Many wastewater system managers focus on pipelines. But manholes can be an even greater source of problems, in some extreme cases contributing up to 90% of inflow and infiltration in a system. And as they’re easier to access, manholes are generally less expensive to fix. To repair them though, they must be inspected.

With the start of summer comes hurricane season, but natural disasters—from blizzards to earthquakes—can disrupt daily life year round. The impact of natural disasters can be far-reaching and disrupt utilities and city operations. Floods, whether caused by snowmelt, hurricane, downpour or infrastructure damage, can quickly overwhelm collection systems and damage electric pump services. And earthquakes can destroy underground infrastructure in mere minutes.

Exfiltration is the leakage of wastewater out of a sanitary sewer system through broken or damaged pipes and manholes. Wastewater that leaks out of defective pipe joints and cracks may contaminate ground and surface water and cause a host of other problems, including pipe structure failures due to erosion of soil support, and ground subsidence due to erosion of underground soil. 

A preventative maintenance program for sewer inspection equipment is the first step a municipality should take to maximize uptime and equipment longevity. Raleigh’s Department of Transportation, Stormwater Maintenance Unit (SMU) can attest to this. “We inspect 60,000 linear feet of pipe annually with our Quickview zoom camera and ROVVER X sewer camera,” says Don Hickman, CCTV Operations Crew Supervisor. Their ROVVER X system has been in service since early 2014. To this day, members of the community congratulate the crew on their new truck. “It is so gratifying to tell curious community members that our truck and equipment has been in service since 2014 and is on the road nearly every day. You can see the level of respect we gain in their eyes—so many municipal workers get a bad rap for not caring about taxpayers’ investments.”

Kyle Baxter started working in the sewer inspection and cleaning industry as his grandfather’s apprentice at the age of ten. Today, his company is one of the biggest sewer inspection and maintenance contractors in Iowa. AccuJet manages the maintenance, cleaning and emergency callouts for 45 cities and performs cleaning and televising for 80% of the Des Moines metro area’s new developments. Apart from sewer inspections and cleaning, AccuJet also performs CIPP liner prep for contractors, stormwater retention inspections, hydro excavation and robotic pipe cutting. AccuJet is on target to have contracts with 100 cities by the year 2020. Baxter is well known in the business community through his involvement with the chamber of commerce, and many small contractors rely on his advice while building their own companies. We asked Baxter for his recipe for success, and he laid out eight principles that have led his company to where it is, and which will fuel future growth.

Hillsboro, Oregon's proximity to Downtown Portland, the Pacific Coast, and the Cascade and Coastal Mountains Ranges make it a popular community to live and work, as do local employers like Intel, Nike and Salesforce. Rapid growth over the last two decades in Hillsboro has forced the city to expand its waste water infrastructure, a challenge compounded by the Pacific Northwest’s high precipitation. The City’s Sanitary and Storm Water Division manages 1.3 million feet of sanitary and 1.4 million feet of storm lines while constantly adding more. Their entire system gets inspected on an eight-year rotation—keeping the expectations on their sewer inspection crew and the equipment they use very high. “Being able to carry out a successful sewer asset management program requires two key ingredients: reliable equipment and a seasoned staff that believes in preventative maintenance,” says Justin Jensen, Hillsboro’s Sanitary & Storm Water Utilities Manager.

The foundation of Franklin Township’s Sewerage Authority’s sewer inspection program is a dedicated focus on preventative maintenance. “Being proactive is the only way we can manage over 200 miles of sewer pipes inundated with infiltration,” said Scott Nocero, Franklin Township Sewerage Authority’s (FTSA) Operations Manager. Elements of their preventative maintenance program include ongoing sewer flushing, inspections and rehabilitation. These efforts have resulted in a significant reduction in inflow and infiltration (I&I) throughout their collection system.

Most municipalities lack the personnel and budget to keep ahead of sewer maintenance needs, meaning no effort can be wasted. Standardization of inspection data is the answer. The Pipeline Assessment and Certification Program (PACP) is a standardized protocol for documenting inspection of wastewater pipes using closed-circuit television equipment. Using PACP removes operator subjectivity from inspections and yields data that is more uniform, shareable and conducive to computer analysis.

Gas line cross bores can pose an immense risk to the people living and working nearby. These can linger underground, undetected until a sewer backup demands attention. Attempting to clean through one of these cross bores can rupture the gas line, leaking gas into homes and businesses, risking a potentially deadly explosion.

A growing number of municipalities and gas utilities are implementing cross bore inspection programs to locate and eliminate risky cross bores before a worst case scenario occurs. With this comes a growing need for contractors capable of inspecting sewer laterals. The few contractors who do perform these services are often inundated with large projects and unable to meet the demand. Sewer inspection contractors have the opportunity to leverage their position and, with the right sewer inspection camera and retrofit, take advantage of these lucrative contracts.