Municipal wastewater contractors rely on their ability to complete jobs in an efficient and timely manner to make money—paid by the project and not by the hour. But striking a balance between increasing productivity and keeping within a budget can be difficult. While searching for ways to take on bigger projects and work more productively, contractors are often forced to get creative with their financial decisions.

Even in uncertain times, essential sewer services have to be maintained. When capital budgets at the municipal and state levels are under threat, cities increasingly turn to contractors to inspect and maintain wastewater infrastructure. The challenge for contractors is getting equipped to seize the opportunity.

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.

Located just an hour north of Seattle, Lake Stevens Sewer District is home to approximately 32,000 people and 13,600 sewer connections. For nearly six decades, the District contracted out its service and CCTV inspection needs, but once its leadership did the math, they found that this process was costing the department as much as $2,000 a day. In 2016, Lake Stevens decided to remedy the problem and move inspection operations in-house, and to purchase its own sewer inspection equipment. Not only would the solution be cost-effective, but it would also give the organization more control over the scheduling, prioritization and long-term planning of its sewer maintenance.

Nestled between Calgary and Edmonton lies the City of Red Deer, the third largest city in the province of Alberta, Canada. Known for beautiful walking paths and the Red Deer River that winds through the heart of the city, it’s a majestic place to live for over 100,000 residents. In Red Deer, the summers are long and comfortable, but the winters bring arctic weather. Freezing temperatures present significant challenges for the city’s 14-person wastewater crew, which is responsible for a total of 533.2 km (331 miles) of sanitary sewer pipes and 560.3 km (348 miles) of stormwater pipes.

Sewer systems have been around in one form or another for thousands of years. As technology advanced, pipeline materials have changed, improving durability and functionality. With all the developments over time, most utilities have to contend with multiple pipeline materials, each of which has different maintenance concerns and a different lifespan.

Today’s municipalities don’t lack data; in fact, modern technologies provide scads of it. The key to effective utility management has become analyzing and assessing that information and using it to make critical operating and maintenance decisions. As municipal budgets continue to diminish and expectations continue to increase, municipalities have been creating tactical sewer asset management plans to better support their workloads. Such has been the case for the City of Vista Wastewater Division.

Hundreds of municipalities rely on the Quickview airHD to assess sewer condition rapidly and affordably.

Now, this trusted tool can measure the distance to objects observed inside sewer pipes. Users can choose between a free app update that provides quick estimates, or deploy a laser rangefinder accessory for more accurate readings. Knowing the distance to pipe features makes it easier to troubleshoot problems and plan repair work.

Pipeline inspection can be performed in a variety of ways, with a range of tools and equipment. When many different companies and manufacturers are promoting their brands, even seasoned pros can struggle to find the tools, methods and equipment that best fit their needs.

In order to provide some guidance, we’re pleased to share the expertise of Eric Sullivan, Principal of Sewer Knowledge, who specializes in sewer infrastructure assessment and CIPP technologies. His research explores the two main methods of data collection, quantitative and qualitative, and analyzes an example of each.