DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONGOING SEWER CLEANING AND INSPECTION PROGRAM FOR AN URBAN COLLECTION SYSTEM

The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), with technical assistance from Hazen and Sawyer P.C., developed a substantive Sewer Assessment Program (SAP) that standardized sewer TV inspections and developed a systematic and consistent methodology for assessing and prioritizing sewer rehabilitation and sewer maintenance needs of Philadelphia's 3,000 miles sewer collection system. Procedures, protocols, assessment and ranking of sewer by severity were tested and validated through a three-year pilot program that included approximately 7% of the City's sewer collection system. Continuous feedback from PWD enhanced and customized the SAP for integration with PWD's Geographic Information System (GIS) that is currently under development.The PWD is moving from conducting the inspection and assessment of its sewers in a reactive mode, responding to problems or complaints, to a proactive program making condition assessment and asset management a routine part of its collection system management. Under the SAP pilot program more than 225 miles of sewers have been inspected utilizing a consistent methodology for assessing and documenting their conditions for near- and long-term management.This presentation will focus on the field program developed to conduct these proactive inspections which form the basis of prioritizing maintenance repairs, rehabilitation, and/or replacement. This includes the crew staffing, equipment, sewer cleaning, scheduling, training, and prioritization of which sewers and areas to inspect first.