Inflow and Infiltration: How To Keep Excess Out Of Your Sewers
Sewers are the throughways that stormwater, sanitary water and groundwater travel through to prevent flooding and other issues. While it may seem like these sewers are a closed off system and only intended wastewater can enter a sewer line, there are a number of other factors at play. Infiltration is groundwater that enters the sewer line through pipe deficiencies, such as a leak, a crack, or damaged joints. Inflow is more directly related to the connection of the sewer, whether water is coming from a damaged manhole, roof gutter, drains or pumps directly connected to the sewer. This can be an illegal connection not approved by the sewer company, such as a corrugated pipe directly connecting into a manhole to drain a sump pump. Together, inflow and infiltration (sometimes referred to as I&I) can cause a number of issues for communities and businesses. It’s an excess amount of water entering the systems.
You may think that these issues would be minor, but they can have a damaging effect on sewers over time. One of the biggest issues with this additional water entering sewer pipes is flow capacity. Sewers are limited in the amount of water they can hold, and a single inflow or infiltration issue can lead to thousands of gallons entering the main sewer line. If storms get heavy, this excess flow puts a strain on the sewers that can cause pipes to bend and crack. These damages end up causing further issues, including sewer backups, environmental contamination, heavy floods and standing water. In addition, extra groundwater can become costly for processing and treating water that isn’t part of the storm or sanitary system.
When it comes to investigating sewer issues, there are a few ways to uncover where the sources of inflow and infiltration is coming from. Standing water can sometimes indicate an issue. Video pipe inspection is the best bet to understanding why these issues are occurring if there isn’t an obvious source. By sending a camera system into the pipe, you can examine issues such as cracks, joint failures, and other defects, as well as any unexpected connections to sewer lines. These issues can be documented and recorded on a video pipe inspection report that can be reviewed for the best repair solution.
Sometimes this may be a full replacement of the damaged sewer, other times you might be able to reline the sewer with cured-in-place pipe lining depending on conditions. Typically this would be By using a cured-in-place pipe liner, you can get a repair that lasts for up to 50 years to prevent inflow and infiltration issues without excavating at all. If it’s a smaller section of the pipe that needs repaired, a sectional point repair may be enough rather than performing a full manhole-to-manhole lining.
If you need to assess your options for dealing with excess inflow and infiltration, our team at Trinity Subsurface can inspect, jet and reline your sewers. Visit our website to find out about all of our pipe services we offer.
