Sanitary Sewer Assessment System

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

Los Angeles County’s sewers hold many secrets, and no one knows all their mysteries. At the Public Works Department, sewers and their mysteries are important business because, if sewers overflow, serious health and environmental problems follow. Unfortunately, sewers can be dangerous and hard to inspect, and there can be serious health consequences for inspectors without proper equipment. In 2006, they began using a closed circuit television and a small robotic camera to find problems before they got out of hand. They use the robotic camera to record the entire length of the sewer their goal is to record and analyze approximately 500 miles of the sewer collection system every year. It is a 10-year program, so at the end of the cycle, they will have reviewed 5,000 miles of sewer. Thus far, they have used this system to address over 1,400 maintenance problems and 70 emergency sewer repairs.