Crawler robots helping to prevent flooding and pollution
It only takes three wet wipes to partially block a pipe in a foul sewer. Now that, of course, depends on the pipe’s shape and circumference, but the fact remains that wet wipes are a considerable problem.
Water UK has found that non-flushable wipes make up around 75 per cent of sewer blockages. Some manufacturers claim that their wipes are flushable, but this assertion is challenged by those tasked with helping to clear the blockages.
One such person is Alex Hartley, a Resolution Support Technician in Complex Investigations and Resolutions at Anglian Water.
The Complex Investigation and Resolution team was created after a particularly wet winter to find the root causes of repeat floodings and pollutions, which Anglian Water defines as ‘any escape of wastewater or potable water from our assets which could have a detrimental impact to the environment.’
Reporting to the Tactical Asset Strategy team, Hartley and his colleagues are in possession of a range of high-tech tools to make inspections and report on misconnections and infiltration points that are adding excess water to the network.
These include CCTV camera vans that receive visual information from a Minicam crawler robot that is operated from within the van.
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