In spite of advances in new sewer pipe material, the evolution of sewer inspection was relatively slow throughout most of the 20th century. Before the advent of camera technology and sewer inspection software, lamp-holes were used to gaze down into sewer mains to ensure water was flowing. If there was no water flowing or if the water was pooling, then the maintenance crews knew there was a problem. These wastewater professionals conducted most of their inspections and maintenance by entering the sewers and looking down main lines with nothing but their eyes and a bit of auxiliary light, but we’ve come a long way since then.

WinCan VX enables users to customize their WinCan experience to work more productively on a variety of tasks.

With an intuitive UI in mind, our developers have worked hard to make WinCan VX accessible and flexible. Whether you need to increase the size of text in section data or want to hide/unhide specific interface elements to accommodate your workflow, you can easily move individual windows; switch to preset workspaces; adjust text font and size for improved readability; and even group section data for more streamlined navigation—all from within WinCan’s “Views” tab.

One of the most common questions we hear from contractors and municipalities who are considering switching to WinCan is what will happen to years of legacy data already logged and archived in different software? With WinCan’s seamless migration and conversion services, you can free inspection data that’s trapped in your current software and retain its integrity for future use.

Sewer workers — and project managers, construction crews, and public works teams — spend much of their time on the job site. And the location and project can vary wildly day to day. In a single week a crew may be asked to deploy equipment into a downtown collection system, through lines in a new suburban development, or down an access point in an off-road easement.

WinCan is always looking ahead at ways to integrate new technology into our software, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for automatic defect recognition and classification. 

Our new AI toolkit, Sewermatics, helps improve operator accuracy, automatically detects defects in video inspections, assigns defect codes and auto-populates data like size, position and water level in 30 languages. 

Gathering More Data in Less Time

WinCan Web is the leading online platform for sewer teams to collaborate remotely. It includes powerful tools for managing, sharing and analyzing sewer inspection data, and for supporting asset management and maintenance planning across a wastewater collection system.

The “cloud” refers to applications that run on the internet, instead of on a local computer or piece of equipment. Essentially, when something is running on the cloud it is stored on a remote server (usually multiple copies at multiple locations, actually).

In the wastewater industry, things are always changing. Populations shift, new environmental regulations pass, and daily use takes its toll. System operators and contractors need technology that can scale to meet their changing needs — including asset management and inspection software.

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.

The departure of long-time employees can be a concern for companies and municipalities and lead to questions of how they will effectively replace such valuable workers and their wealth of knowledge and experience.