Scottish Water is the first company to use drones to check the sewers in Scotland.
The utility company said that the technology will get rid of the need for workers to do inspections, give more accurate readings of conditions, and help cut down on emissions.
In July, it used a drone to check a sewer in Bath Street, Glasgow. This was the first time this had been done in the UK.
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and some rural areas are likely to get the same kind of inspections.
Scottish Water said that the more accurate inspections will cut the cost of repairs and maintenance and lower the risk of flooding and pollution.
The high-tech drones have cameras and a laser technology called light detection and ranging (LiDAR) that scans sewers for problems like cracks, holes, partial collapses, infiltration, and root ingress.
Two workers fly a drone along pipes so that it can take a video of the area.
This method takes the place of 15 workers who used to do inspections. This method will still be used in other parts of the network, though.
Scottish Water said that the drones help cut down on the number of workers who have to go into dangerous, small spaces where there may be dangerous gases.
It also said that the technology would not hurt any workers’ jobs, pay, or working conditions.
A spokesperson stated that it will actually create more work because, as we roll it out, we’ll be able to do more sewer inspections on parts of our waste-water network that we couldn’t reach with the old ‘worker entry’ methods. One other part of these workers’ jobs is to check on sewers.
Environmental Techniques, a surveying company in Northern Ireland, made the technology and the software that goes with it.
Scottish Water said that the drones would be flown to parts of its 33,000-mile network that could not be reached by traditional surveys.
It also said that by reducing the number of site vans and vehicle deliveries, this method could cut carbon emissions from sewer surveys by up to 80%.
Iain Jones, the company’s risk and life cycle planning manager, said:
“Drones have been put into sewers elsewhere with limited capabilities and limited success. But the specific adaptation of both drone and the 3D LiDAR modelling is what makes this special.
“The 4K quality outputs combined with accurate modelling is the innovative thing. That quality is four times better than a HD TV and it’s certainly a first in Britain.
“Some of the sewers pre-date the Victorian era and are more than 160 years-old and we need information to enable us to make good decisions about how to rehabilitate them if necessary.”
Iain Jones, risk and life cycle planning manager at Scottish Water
