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Focused Field Investigations for Sewer Condition Assessment with EPA SSOAP Toolbox
Citation:
Vallabhaneni, S., C. Chan, AND A. SELVAKUMAR. Focused Field Investigations for Sewer Condition Assessment with EPA SSOAP Toolbox . Presented at No-Dig 2012 Conference, Nashville, TN, March 11 - 15, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
The Nation’s sanitary sewer infrastructure is aging, and it is currently one of the top national water program priorities, and is one of the top priorities of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the Sanitary Sewer Overflow Analysis and Planning (SSOAP) Toolbox to assist communities in developing sewer SSO mitigation plans including sewer capacity and condition assessment. EPA is also providing users support for the toolbox. Additional enhancements to the toolbox are planned through 2011 in relation to the EPA’s research on Aging Water Infrastructure (http://www.epa.gov/awi/pdf/600f09042.pdf). The SSOAP Toolbox contains a suite of integrated computer software tools. It can serve as the foundation of wastewater collection system assessments among several applications, for analyzing monitored flow data to prioritize where to inspect for condition assessment, and to assess the performance of rehabilitation activities. The current state of technology for condition assessment of sewer systems is by visual examination of sewer conditions using rather time consuming and expensive field investigations employing the conventional closed circuit television or newer emerging technologies (e.g., sonar, laser, ultrasonic, and infrared). The rainfall derived infiltration and inflow prediction methodology employed in the SSOAP Toolbox offers an effective means to design a focused condition assessment program and maximize the success of field investigation efforts. In this technical paper, the authors intended to discuss how SSOAP fits to overall Asset Management framework and highlight SSOAP applications to design focused field investigation plans as part of sanitary sewer condition assessment and subsequent rehabilitation efforts.