Sewage Grid: Drifting Sensors that Monitor the Wastewater Collection System

Over the past decades, the aging infrastructure of wastewater collection system (WCS) has endangered the public health by contaminating the sources of drinking water and by polluting the natural environment. The dangers caused by discharging untreated wastewater have been repeatedly proclaimed by academia, industries, and public sectors. As numerous studies have pointed out, wastewater escaped from the wastewater collection system (WCS) has been a major source of impairment of water quality. In order to identify untreated wastewater escaping from WCS, various schemes have been designed and developed. However, only a small fraction of the WCS is inspected each year due to the cost and complications associated with the current inspection techniques. In an effort to solve this environmental problem, we designed and developed a new methodology for detecting functional deficiencies in WCS. The new methodology, which is utilizing the wireless floating sensors as well as interdisciplinary researches, is not only by far simpler than any current industry methods, but also significantly more efficient. Moreover, this is the first known WCS monitoring methodology utilizing a wireless mobile sensing system.