The Sahara platform is a tethered inspection tool for assessing pressurized water and wastewater pipelines six inches and larger. The platform detects leaks and gas pockets, collects visual condition, and maps pipelines in a single deployment, without disrupting regular service. With this condition assessment data, pipeline owners can make informed rehabilitation and management decisions on a pipe-by-pipe basis.
The SmartBall platform is a free-swimming inspection tool used to detect leaks and gas pockets and map pipeline networks. This platform assesses pressurized water and wastewater pipelines in a single deployment, without disrupting regular service. The SmartBall platform provides utilities with pipeline condition data to make informed rehabilitation and management decisions on a pipe-by-pipe basis.
In order to better understand the condition of their buried pipeline network and proactively address potential water loss issues, the city of Park City, Utah engaged Xylem in creating a condition assessment program utilizing acoustic and transient pressure monitoring.
While the Park City Municipal Corporation set a goal for Park City to become the “The Best Resort Town in America,” its relatively small Public Utilities Department is also gaining accolades for its forward-thinking approach to leak detection and to addressing water loss in a city which receives about half as much rainfall as the national average. The city chiefly relies on melting snow to recharge the groundwater system, and the next viable source is much more expensive. The city also realized that rapid residential and commercial developments near Park City are placing increased demands on groundwater resources — and as the population swells, more expensive water sources will have to be pursued.
Jason Christensen serves as Water Resources Manager for Park City, which has more than 120 miles of pipe in its distribution network. Many of the pipes are more than 60 years old and are covered in mineral soil that is corrosive in nature. By reviewing SCADA and Sensus AMI consumption data, as well as results from a previous leak detection survey, Christensen was aware of leaks in their system that attributed to a loss of 100 GPM.
Park City engaged Xylem to deploy their intelligent sensor hardware and monitoring solutions as part of a condition assessment program to understand their system and reduce non-revenue water. The project involved monitoring 6 pressure zones and reporting on anomalies such as leaks and bursts and identifying assets that are likely to fail through predictive analytics.
What solutions did Xylem and Park City come up with to solve this challenge? Find out and explore the results we achieved together by downloading the full case study below.
Solutions |
Acoustic leak monitoring Transient pressure monitoring |
Pipe Material |
Steel (transmission main) Ductile Iron & PVC (distribution mains) HDPE (service lines) |
Inspection Length |
13 miles (4.8 km) |
Diameter |
1-in (25mm) to 12-in (300mm) |
Transmission Type |
Water |
To manage remaining useful life of a critical metallic force main, City of Cape Girardeau deploys SmartBall® as screening tool for condition assessment to identify gas pockets and high likelihood areas of internal corrosion.
Desktop studies commonly incorporate data such a pipe material, class, age, and failure history to assist in preliminary condition assessment programs without someone necessarily ever seeing the pipeline. Utilities often use desktop data as an initial step to help shape a management strategy.
For a higher level of condition assessment data, the health of a pipeline can be determined by combining desktop studies with an inline SmartBall leak and gas pocket survey, leading to focused test pits in areas where gas pockets indicate potential internal corrosion, the most common cause of ductile iron force main failure.
As proof of concept, Pure Technologies used the free-flowing SmartBall platform as part of a recent DIP force main condition assessment for City of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Services |
SmartBall leak and gas pocket survey
Condition assessment aided by SmartBall gas pocket location Field service verification Ultrasonic Thickness (UT) Testing for structural evaluation Remaining Useful Life (RUL) analysis |
Pipe Material |
Ductile Iron Pipe (DIP) HDPE |
Inspection Length |
3 miles (4.8 km) |
Diameter |
20-in (500mm) & 24-in (600mm) |
Transmission Type |
Wastewater |
The City of Cape Girardeau (Cape G) proactively manages 550 miles of water and wastewater pipelines for a population of nearly 40,000.
In January 2017, Cape G retained the services of Pure Technologies to field verify and further assess the condition of the Riverfront Force Main, a three-mile pipeline comprised of 20 and 24-inch ductile iron pipe (DIP), with a few replacement sections of HDPE.
Cape G had experienced a failure on Riverfront Force Main on the Memorial Day weekend of 2016. As the force main is relatively new (installed in 2000) and runs along the Mississippi River, the condition assessment of the non-redundant main was critical for the City.
What solutions did Pure Technologies and Cape G come up with to solve this challenge? Find out and explore the results we achieved together by downloading the full case study below.
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