Geography and climate play a big role in the development of sewer inspection workflows. The changing seasons affect the ground and buried infrastructure: The winter months bring freezing and contraction, while warmer weather thaws and loosens the earth. Some communities have no problem inspecting sewers and conducting rehab year-round, but others are limited by these weather patterns. 

Most real estate agents will tell you laterals can cause problems for home and business owners, such as blockages, wear-and-tear and leaks. But they can also cause trouble for construction and rehab teams if they are left undocumented and unmapped, and they are often major sources of systemwide I&I. For this reason, some municipalities shoulder the burden of inspecting residential sewer laterals, while others leave it to residents to request lateral inspection.

To be successful in these efforts, inspection teams need the right equipment and technology to traverse lateral lines and record inspection data about their location and condition. Without complete and accurate documentation, both property owners and rehab teams could be at risk. In the digital age, more municipalities are turning to Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping as a solution for easily accessible lateral information and historical data. And with an effective digital workflow to map out laterals, inspection teams can add wastewater laterals to their regional records, store lateral pipe data in a digital map, and ultimately make that map and data remotely available to engineers and city officials.

Sewer pipe inspection requires a keen eye and attention to detail, but in today’s industry, teams also need to get their work done fast. The last thing operators want to do is fumble through spreadsheets and windows while on the job, distracted from precision assessment and slowing down the workflow.

The WinCan Web Flex media bucket enables inspection teams to bring any photos and videos related to a project into one easily-accessible, cloud-based location. Often, inspection teams face the challenges of working on several job sites throughout the day, which means inspection footage needs to be organized and stored securely according to different work orders. The media bucket ensures that media is ready when it’s needed and easily attached to an inspection for review.

Web Flex brings more flexibility to the WinCan Web cloud solution, allowing users to create, edit and code inspection data from anywhere, anytime. With more freedom in their workflow, sewer teams can complete jobs more quickly and safely, benefiting from easier media uploading and an intuitive online defect coding experience. 

WinCan Web Flex gives operators the freedom to code inspections anywhere, anytime, producing a fast, seamless workflow. In an increasingly-digital industry, this cloud-based solution allows you to create projects, add sections, log observations and customize reports from any internet-enabled device. Between Sewermatics' AI-powered coding and the cloud-based Web Flex, defect coding is more accessible and automated than ever before.

Updated offerings on WinCan’s cloud platform bring new functionality to inspection teams, with enhanced editing capabilities and on-the-go project creation.

WinCan Web Flex is the latest addition to WinCan’s suite of sewer solutions, bringing new features to the WinCan Web cloud platform. While the base version of WinCan Web was designed for project management and communication tasks, Web Flex takes the platform’s functionality to a new level with enhanced creation and editing features. With Web Flex, users have the ability to create projects, drop media directly into the web, and then immediately log observations from any internet-enabled device. Users can even score or rescore a project or print and send detailed reports. These changes open up new workflows for sewer inspection teams, allowing them to prioritize speed and efficiency.

Fats, oils and grease, also known as FOG, is one of the most harmful types of waste flushed down the drain. The primary source of FOG is cooking and food preparation, and while residential homes are significant contributors, commercial restaurants and manufacturing plants are actually the biggest source. Most restaurants produce FOG constantly due the nature of their work. While many dispose of it properly via a trash can or recycling program, FOG still makes its way down into the sewers at an alarming rate.

As the sewer inspection industry has evolved, the trend has been a shift from slow mechanical methods to automated digital processes. WinCan has pioneered new ways for municipalities and contractors to understand wastewater systems and manage their sewer data, and now we’re streamlining the way users engage with those solutions.