Experimental and Numerical Study on Production Rate in Sewer Mainline Video Inspection

Municipalities across North America are implementing asset management programs in order to demonstrate stewardship of public assets and decrease maintenance costs. In wastewater-collection systems, sewer condition assessment is a key operation requiring extensive data collection using various methods. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is the most commonly used method for inspection of sewers, and municipalities spend significant amounts of time and money on its execution yearly. Currently, little information is available on CCTV inspection productivity; such information would enable more efficient resource allocation, and thus the development of a CCTV average production rate is useful for municipalities and contractors. In this study, inspection data on approximately 122 km of sewer network in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is analyzed, finding an average production rate of approximately 400 m/day for sewer CCTV inspection. This paper also includes an analysis of the effects of weather conditions and temperature on CCTV inspection productivity, with monthly comparisons throughout the year, which is a critical consideration in cold regions.