Collaboration brings professionals together to employ unique skills and experience for the good of the project at hand. In sewer inspection, collaboration is essential to keeping wastewater utilities, contractors and broader municipal departments connected and moving toward safer systems with cleaner communities.  

When disaster strikes a municipality, it can destroy decades of work on infrastructure and place communities at continued risk for years to come. With the increase in extreme weather events, municipalities need an all-encompassing emergency response plan. Environmental crises can quickly destroy a wastewater system’s integrity, resulting in dangerous conditions for surrounding roadways and homes. This also leads to costly repairs that disrupt annual maintenance requirements and inspection timelines, creating a rippling effect that can disrupt a community for years.

As extreme weather events increase around the globe, cities are looking to create more resilient infrastructure to withstand and protect against floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other high-risk events. In addition to climate change, many municipalities already face I&I challenges, and aging infrastructure puts strain on local wastewater teams. When operators can’t keep up with routine maintenance and inspection, collection systems are at a higher risk of failure, and they stand little chance against significant weather events.

Like most of America, the village of Addison, IL sits on aging sewer infrastructure. But investment in new tools and technology have helped Addison sustain a healthy system in the face of population growth.

The Chicago suburb’s sewer division has made significant changes to its workflow over the past five years to adapt for new development, but Addison isn’t quite done growing. With the addition of two new subdivisions, the village anticipates added wear and tear on aging sewer infrastructure, and the sewer division is outfitting itself with the future in mind.

Flooding is a concern in almost every part of the world. And in the United States specifically, flooding has caused more death and destruction than any other kind of natural disaster, according to National Geographic. 

Floods pose a threat to people, homes and buildings, and to civil infrastructure, including wastewater systems.

Communities depend heavily on their wastewater systems, so ensuring this resource is strong enough to withstand a natural or human-caused disaster is crucial. Building up system resiliency so it can bounce back from any harm protects against a range of health and safety risks, keeping your sewer system in better shape for longer.

Wastewater systems are vital to ensuring the health of our communities. Yet they are constantly at risk — from both everyday wear and tear and catastrophic natural disasters — so departments must ensure their systems are resilient and sustainable.

As the United States moves into the summer months, the nation moves from one flood season to another. Currently, St. Louis, Mo. and other midwestern communities are grappling with flooding brought on by higher than expected rainfall flowing into the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. As the summer continues, much of the Midwest and Southwestern United States will face high water events. Though occasional overflows are a natural part of living in a floodplain, major floods can bring a host of problems to an area, including damaged infrastructure and residences, hazardous waste leakage, and increased mosquito populations.

Utilizing inspection data to manage a wastewater system is a big task. With so many system assets (pipes, manholes, laterals) and so many factors that influence their performance, the amount of data collected can overwhelm even the most experienced manager. WinCan helps you correlate data to real world factors in order to distill insights, develop practical maintenance strategies and maximize your budget. The applications are numerous, and evolving mapping technologies promise to expand on them in the future.

Freezing temperatures can shut down much of a city, even in the most prepared areas. But even in the worst weather, the need for sewer maintenance remains high. While a storm rages above ground, effluent continues flowing and pipes continue degrading. So how do crews keep moving during storms? Prioritize.