Electro Scan Inc. announced results today for a landmark 14-mile North American pipeline benchmark study, comparing Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) inspection results using National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) Pipe Assessment Certification Program (PACP) codes, against Focused Electrode Leak Location (FELL) inspection results that was completed in accordance with ASTM F2550, Standard Practice for Locating Leaks in Sewer Pipes By Measuring the Variation of Electric Current Flow Through the Pipe Wall.
The project was conducted between August 2019 and March 2020, which assessed 322 gravity sewer mains, totaling 74,000 linear feet (LF), and included over 1,800 customer tap connections to the sewer mains.
Pipe diameters ranged from 8 to 12 inches for nearly 90% of the study area, while the remaining sewer main sizes varied up to 27 inches in diameter.
The study’s primary purpose was to directly compare CCTV and FELL inspection results with respect to documenting infiltration sources in sewers mains for this utility that is operating under an Environmental Protection Agency Consent Decree.
The company notes that this study is the first major evaluation of its kind to identify infiltration sources by comparing the more conventional CCTV inspection results to the innovative FELL technique.
Importantly, FELL inspection quantified potential infiltration flow rates in Gallons per Minute for all sewer mains defects as well as at each tap connection. This is not true of CCTV inspection which, except for making estimates by operators from leaks only if visible at the time of inspection, cannot quantify infiltration flow rates.
Municipal engineers and consultants that would like to read the Key Findings and Executive Summary of the study should visit the Case Study here. Additional details of this CCTV-FELL North American benchmark study may be requested by contacting Electro Scan Inc.
ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC.
Electro Scan Inc., a leading supplier of machine-intelligent pipeline assessment products and services for the water & wastewater market. Named to Government Technology’s esteemed 2020 GovTech 100 list for the second straight year, Electro Scan develops proprietary pipe condition assessment equipment, capable of delivering on module mobile electronic in-pipe platforms, supporting a cloud-based architecture that automatically locates, measures, and reports defects in new and existing sewer, water, and natural gas pipelines, typically not found by legacy inspection methods.
Track4Services Ltd. Supports Electro Scan’s Acoustic, Video, and Data Collection from Challenging Locations Throughout the United Kingdom
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, USA, November 11, 2020 — Electro Scan Inc. announced today that it has appointed Track4Services Ltd. (T4S) as its ‘Smart Wireless Provider’ to serve the UK water industry supporting its award-winning Multi-Sensor Water & Sewer Leak Detection solutions.
All Electro Scan inspection vans have installed licensed T4S wireless equipment to easily and efficiently transmit acoustic, video, and proprietary geocoded leak locations to Electro Scan’s cloud for water utility decision support and contractor water tightness testing.
“We are delighted to standardize our UK leak detection fleet on the advanced wireless solutions from T4S,” stated Chuck Hansen, Managing Director, Electro Scan (UK) Limited.
Track4Services (T4S) Hub Portal allows Electro Scan to track all its inspection vans, identifying specific signal strengths and boosting available Wi-Fi using its Smart Hub Communication technology.
Partnered with Vodafone since 2014, T4S was founded in London in 2011, the same year as Electro Scan Inc., with R&D facilities in Tampere, Finland.
A key factor in selecting T4S as its ‘UK Smart Wireless Provider’ was their proven UK geo connectivity coverage of 99.8%, compared to their rivals of 74%.
“In these times we are all being expected to do more with less resources. The answer to that conundrum is to innovate. We are delighted to serve the needs of such a forward-thinking clean tech organization, like Electro Scan, that is helping the UK water industry target its water losses,” stated Derek Greene, CEO, Track4Services Ltd.
“Electro Scan brings sweeping change to the global leak detection market, and given the challenging UK topology, we are delighted to be working with Derek Greene & other members of the T4S team to transmit large audio, video, and point cloud data intelligence from the field,” stated Hansen.
Legacy leak detection techniques have often delivered inconsistent, unreliable, and incomplete results.
Today, many water utilities, regulators, and contractors now realize that legacy leak detection methods are finding low-quality leaks that may compromise rehabilitation selection and are unable to certify new pipelines as watertight.
All leaks are located and measured in Gallons per Minute or Liters per Second, without relying on ‘seeing’ or ‘hearing’ defects at Joints, Customer Tap Locations, or Pipe Walls.
While utilities are deploying thousands of intelligent sensors to track down water losses to critical District Metered Areas (DMAs), the inability to quickly and effectively find where “X” marks the spot for major leaks causing high level of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) has been elusive.
Often taking hours, days, or weeks to isolate leak locations, by contrast, Electro Scan’s in-pipe machine-intelligent leak detection solution pinpoints specific locations in minutes, providing an estimated liters per second (LPS) or gallons per minute (GPM) for each leak.
Wireless equipment in Electro Scan’s UK inspection vans join a growing list of T4S water industry customers, including DEFRA, Environment Agency, Wessex Water, and Scottish Water.
“Data transmissions have been swift since installing the T4S equipment in our vans,” stated Brad Weston, Director, Electro Scan (UK) Limited.
“What I like most about T4S is the ability to be over 50 meters away from our vans and still have Wi-Fi coverage,” adds Weston. “Its a great relief not to worry about data communications, anywhere at anytime in the UK.”
ABOUT TRACK4SERVICES LTD Track4Services (T4S) specializes in delivering consistent and reliable communications allowing organizations to deliver actionable intelligence from the field in an entirely new way. Revolutionizing the workplace by bringing the latest mobile technology to field/outdoor operations, T4S can be used by every person in an organization, each with their own data profile allowing companies to communicate with workforces via WiFi calling even when there is no signal on their mobile phone, amalgamate data, streamline reporting and share knowledge site to site and site to office and many more applications.
ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC. Electro Scan Inc., a leading supplier of machine-intelligent pipeline assessment products and services for the water & wastewater market. Named to Government Technology’s esteemed 2020 GovTech 100 list for the second straight year, Electro Scan develops proprietary pipe condition assessment equipment, capable of delivering on module mobile electronic in-pipe platforms, supporting a cloud-based architecture that automatically locates, measures, and reports defects in new and existing sewer, water, and natural gas pipelines, typically not found by legacy inspection methods.
Alabama Sewer Utility adopts machine-intelligent Focused Electrode Leak Location to locate, quantify, and document pipe defects.
SACRAMENTO, CA, UNITED STATES, November 5, 2020 — Electro Scan Inc. announced today that Decatur Utilities (DU), Decatur, Alabama, has installed the Company’s next generation ES-620 pipeline leak detection equipment technology to DU’s Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) inspection fleet.
“Electro Scan had been on our radar for the past few years as we are constantly monitoring and evaluating the latest in sewer inspection technologies. We were intrigued at the science and proven value of Electro Scan and Focused Electrode Leak Location (FELL) technology in not only identifying defects of various extents in the pipe but also providing a volume of Inflow & Infiltration (I/I) potentially entering our sewer collection system. Electro Scan’s ability to assess sewer pipes without bias and immediately provide decision-making results in gallons per minute, along with adding another layer of quality control for new installations is what prompted our request for a field demonstration,” said Jordan Young, Wastewater Operations Superintendent, Decatur Utilities, Decatur, AL.
DU operates and maintains 374 miles of gravity sewer mains ranging from 6-inch to 42-inches in diameter, serving a population of nearly 54,000 with over 20,000 customer sewer service connections.
“During the field demonstration, Electro Scan evaluated three (3) pipe materials: Vitrified Clay Pipe (VCP), Cured-in-Place Pipe (CIPP), and Polyvinyl Chloride pipe (PVC). This demo proved exactly what the previous defects the CCTV inspection discovered but provided further in-depth pipe analysis that will be useful for DU’s prioritization of repairs or main replacement. The VCP pipe was found to have defective joints and various cracks, the Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lines showed porosity and pinhole leaks that the CCTV inspection did not show, and the PVC line showed to be fully intact and leak-free. Again, FELL inspection provides powerful, target-rich data that will help us identify the exact lines in need of repair and improve our rehabilitation decisions to use ratepayer dollars most efficiently,” stated Young.
In October 2020, DU’s Gas, Water, & Wastewater Operations Manager, Jimmy Evans, presented the Electro Scan expenditure to the DU Board and to the Decatur City Council which approved the procurement of Electro Scan’s FELL technology inspection system. The ES-620 equipment for Sewer Mains inspection system was seamlessly integrated into the DU’s existing Cues CCTV truck. Following equipment installation, Electro Scan staff provided training for DU personnel, so that going forward the FELL inspections will be performed by the DU Electro Scan-Certified Sewer Operation and Maintenance team.
“Electro Scan’s technology also allows for an in-depth analysis of our larger trunk mains that would otherwise not be possible without bypass pumping procedures. Providing leakage data in submerged large diameter pipes was a key factor in our procurement decision that we cannot feasibly obtain using bypass pumping and CCTV inspection,” continued Young.
Uncontrolled I/I in gravity sewers results in significant and unnecessary costs to DU and its ratepayers. By precisely locating and quantifying pipe defects contributing to I/I within the DU collection system, overall infrastructure integrity can be improved to maximize system capacity and avoid costly capital expenditures.
“Decatur Utilities will be able to measure pipe rehabilitation effectiveness immediately after liner installations using FELL technology. Inspection data allows DU to properly prioritize capital spending for only those sewers with the highest I/I flows, and to unambiguously certify that rehabilitation work meets DU’s standards for water tightness. We are thrilled to be supporting the City in these critical efforts,” states Mike App, Vice President, Electro Scan Inc.
Another significant feature to select Electro Scan’s FELL technology was its existing data integration capabilities with Innovyze’s InfoAsset Planner (IAP) asset management software application.
This powerful integration allows for FELL data to be seamlessly incorporated, through a first of its kind API (automated programming interface) with Innovyze, into the IAP decision matrix algorithm that generates rehabilitation actions by using customized decision trees.
“The ‘golden ticket’ of our industry is to measure the true condition of utility pipes, where pipe defects contributing to unwanted I/I can be located precisely and quantified in gallons per minute. Prior to Electro Scan’s FELL technology, there was no way for utilities like DU to quantify existing conditions, and even then, it was nearly impossible to determine leak locations and associated severity,” stated Chuck Hansen, Founder and Chairman, Electro Scan Inc.
“Our goal is to help agencies reduce I/I to the maximum possible extent. Focused Electrode Leak location technology supports every municipality in reaching this essential goal,” continued Hansen.
Electro Scan is the only worldwide supplier that produces reporting in accordance with ASTM F2550, Standard Practice for Locating Leaks in Sewer Pipes by Measuring the Variation of Electric Current Flow Through the Pipe Wall. Electro Scan has remained committed to safely servicing our customers and helping municipal agencies adopt FELL technology during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Electro Scan’s FELL technology has been evaluated in benchmark studies by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Water Works Association (AWWA), and the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WERF). Likewise, the German Institute of Underground Infrastructure (IKT), the UK-based Water Research Centre (WRc), and the Japan Sewer Collection System Maintenance Association (JASCOMA) have all studied and approved of FELL technology for pipeline condition inspection.
Kazmier & Associates, Alpharetta, GA, is the exclusive representative of Electro Scan products & services in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
For more than 80 years, Decatur Utilities (DU) has provided reliable utility service to the greater Decatur, Alabama area. Today, DU provides electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater services to more than 25,000 customer’s system-wide. DU is dedicated to delivering safe and reliable utility service at some of the lowest rates in the Tennessee Valley.
ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC. Electro Scan Inc., a leading supplier of machine-intelligent pipeline assessment products and services for the water & wastewater pipeline market, was named to Government Technology’s esteemed 2020 GovTech 100 list for the second straight year. Electro Scan Inc. develops proprietary pipe condition assessment equipment, delivers field services, and offers cloud-based data processing and reporting applications that automatically locate, measure, and report defects in sewer, water, and natural gas pipelines, typically not found by legacy inspection methods.
