Sewer Rehabilitation Project Results in Return on Investment

Most municipal utilities are challenged with developing cost-effective rehabilitation approaches to address inflow and infiltration (I/I) issues in their sanitary sewer collection system. The most common drivers for reducing I/I through sewer rehabilitation include addressing wet weather capacity issues and eliminating chronic sanitary sewer overflows typically to meet regulatory compliance. The cost of sewer rehabilitation is most often evaluated as the capital cost to address the respective drivers with virtually no consideration for long-term return on investment. This paper will presentresults showing that given the right conditions, successful sewer rehabilitation projects not only help to control rainfall-induced I/I, but also provide long-term financial benefits (i.e., return on investment) through aggressive targetingof base infiltration.