Into the Information Age: Application of Internet of Things for Sewer Maintenance Optimization

The application of real-time sewer monitoring allows a much lower cost of prevention of sanitary sewer overflows. This has been shown with a pilot test using SmartCover® (Escondido, CA) technology in the San Antonio Water System (SAWS). The traditional method being employed prior to the pilot test was high frequency cleaning of sewer sections deemed to be high risk – typically due to historical overflows. Most overflows are caused by buildup of fats, oils and grease (FOG), root intrusion, pipe decay, or other capacity constraints. A strategy was employed to clean the sewers based on real-time data from SmartCover remote level monitoring units instead of relying on the calendar.SmartCovers were installed and water elevations in the manholes at these high risk locations were monitored in real time over a 12 month period. Trend analysis was conducted on the water level patterns seen in the manholes adjacent to high risk pipes. This analysis allowed the utility to clean when data showed that debris was building up, rather than on a fixed schedule. SAWS was able to reduce cleaning frequency by 94% without having any overflows.The application of real time monitoring to sewer systems provides an immediate return on investment to sewer utilities. These data shows definitively that using real time monitoring allows reduction in cleaning schedules, which frees up resources for other needs and lowers the costs of sewer maintenance dramatically, while achieving the same or better SSO reduction objectives. The dollars not spent are significantly greater than the cost of instruments and data acquisition. This benefits rate payers, the environment, and utility staff dramatically.