A Better Way To Manage Sewers

For many wastewater operators, things are getting harder, not easier. With diminishing budgets and aging sewer infrastructure across North America, municipalities’ options are limited. Excessive inflow and infiltration (I&I) can cause a collection system to exceed its capacity limits, leading to increased treatment costs and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) that release untreated effluent into the environment. And aggressive cleaning programs, while effective at clearing pipes of debris, result in some pipes getting over-cleaned. This wastes resources and leads to premature pipe degradation and, eventually, early pipe failure. Today’s teams have neither the time nor the money to do it all.

Compared to crawler-only inspection, the Phased Assessment Strategy for Sewers (PASS) approach reduces assessment costs by roughly 34% and boosts productivity about 17%. This free, printable infographic can be used to understand the value of the PASS workflow and communicate it to your team. 

Sanitary sewer systems are critical to the U.S. economy and to protecting public health and the environment. But because they're hidden from sight, few outside the water and wastewater industry understand their operation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates more than 151,000 public water systems in the United States that serve 90% of Americans—that’s more than 290 million people who rely on sanitary sewers!

Sewer infrastructure typically runs under streets, so crews who clean, inspect and rehab sewers are routinely faced with traffic hazards as they do their work. The Federal Highway Administration reports that in 2015, a work zone crash occurred once every 5.4 minutes. Taking extra precautions to make these zones compliant with traffic safety regulations is the best way to minimize risk.

When a sewer fails, the solution is seldom cheap or easy. Digging it up can be particularly costly, as well as disruptive to residential customers and road traffic. To avoid this, methods have emerged allowing sewers to be fixed without excavation. These methods are referred to collectively as “trenchless technologies.”

No two sewers pipes are alike. Many differ significantly in terms of size (both diameter and length), pipe material, effluent characteristics, service connections, soil composition and water table. Pipes also fail in different ways: they can crack, leak, settle, erode, corrode and collapse. These failures can be localized, or they can be pervasive. Moreover, the goal of rehabilitation can vary to include:

Maximizing your sewer inspection crawler’s travel distance often comes down to one thing— proper wheel selection. With the appropriate wheels, crawler operators can ensure maximum ground clearance and sidewall contact, plus limit camera vibration and enhance tread grip.

Recently, we published a white paper outlining our Phased Assessment Strategy for Sewers (PASS), which can cut assessment costs 34% and boost productivity 17%. Now, a new infographic is available to help you comprehend the value of the PASS workflow and communicate it to your team.