Table of contents
Introduction
Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) represent a serious challenge for wastewater utilities, leading to significant inefficiencies and environmental risks. Excess rainwater and groundwater infiltrate sewer systems, overwhelming treatment plants and contributing to higher costs, more spills and overflows. Accurate data and proactive management tools are essential for detecting and mitigating these issues. PipeFusion, when integrated with SewerIntelligence, provides an innovative solution that enhances network overview and understandingby improving data accuracy and offering advanced I&I detection capabilities.
The problem
I&I is a costly problem for municipalities and wastewater utilities. Clean water entering sewer systems can account for up to 50% of the total annual volume, resulting in higher costs for pumping and treating clean and unwanted waterThis leads to:
- Increased operational costs: More chemicals, energy, and resources are required to treat the excess water.
- Capacity overload: I&I reduces the capacity of wastewater networks, making it difficult to manage peak loads during storms, which leads to network spills and overflows.
- Environmental impact: Overflows result in untreated wastewater spilling into natural bodies of water, harming ecosystems and violating environmental regulations.
Without accurate data and proactive tools, utilities face an uphill battle in detecting and addressing these hidden sources of inefficiency.
How PipeFusion and Sewerintelligence solves the problem
Integration with SewerIntelligence for precision and efficiency
When PipeFusion integrates with SewerIntelligence, utilities can enhance their I&I management using data-driven insights and real-time monitoring. PipeFusion ensures data accuracy, while SewerIntelligence uses this foundation to detect and analyse I&I, providing actionable insights for immediate response and long-term planning.
Key Functions
- Data accuracy through PipeFusion: PipeFusion improves the accuracy of geospatial and hydraulic data by identifying and correcting errors in pipeline geometry, flow direction, and connectivity. This ensures that the I&I analysis performed by SewerIntelligence is based on reliable data.
- Real-time I&I monitoring: SewerIntelligence leverages sensor data, such as from flow meters, to detect unusual flow patterns that indicate inflow or infiltration events. Its algorithms interpret data corrected by PipeFusion, improving detection accuracy.
- Proactive alerts and simulations: With the combined system, utilities can run simulations to predict the effects of I&I during storms or heavy rain, enabling them to adjust operations in real time and avoid overflows.
- Targeted maintenance planning: The integration enables precise identification of areas with significant I&I issues. Utilities can prioritise repairs and maintenance based on real-time data, avoiding costly reactive fixes.
Results and Benefits
- Reduced treatment and energy costs: By addressing I&I, utilities save on the chemicals, energy, and capacity used to pump and treat clean water that shouldn't be entering the system.
- Improved detection accuracy: PipeFusion’s corrected data enhances the accuracy of SewerIntelligence’s I&I detection, resulting in fewer false positives and faster issue resolution.
- Enhanced environmental compliance: Preventing network overloads reduces the likelihood of spills and untreated discharges into natural environments, supporting compliance with environmental standards.
- Optimised network performance: The system helps utilities manage capacity more effectively, ensuring wastewater systems operate smoothly even under challenging conditions like storms.
Conclusion
I&I is a significant issue for wastewater systems, driving up costs, straining infrastructure, and causing environmental damage. By integrating PipeFusion with SewerIntelligence, utilities gain the power to accurately detect and address I&I sources, improving network efficiency and reducing unnecessary costs. This data-driven solution enhances proactive maintenance planning, ensuring that wastewater systems are resilient, sustainable, and better equipped to meet future demands.