Cutting I&I Costs With Affordable Network Insight
HWM Global helps a US Municipality gain critical I&I insight at a fraction of the usual cost by replacing conventional flow meters with multiple low-cost, easily redeployable SpillSens digital float sensors.
Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) sends unwanted water into wastewater systems causing sewer backups. Traditional surveys using high‑accuracy flow meters cost up to $20,000 and take months to deploy, analyse, and redeploy. A US municipality needed a faster, more affordable way to locate entry points and cut treatment costs.
Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) refers to unwanted water entering the wastewater network. Rising I&I volumes can quickly overwhelm treatment works, causing spills and sewer backups into homes and businesses. To find I&I, the utility relied on high‑accuracy open‑channel flow meters, but their high cost, long installation times, and lengthy analysis process made it difficult to stay ahead of the problem, increasing operational pressure.
The US Municipal adopted HWM Global’s award-winning angle‑based sensor ‘SpillSens’ installed at low‑flow level in minutes (5–10). By tracking the rise and fall of sewage and correlating it with rainfall, teams quickly identified I&I entry points and prioritised remediation. For the cost of a single flow meter, they deployed nine SpillSens systems for five years, delivering broad network coverage and near real‑time insight. Devices are easily redeployed upstream to narrow problem areas and send SMS/email alarms at pre‑set angles to warn operators of backups before spills occur. Data is visualised in the SpillGuard online platform with a GIS overlay of the sewer network for rapid situational awareness.
With continuous daily call‑ins and event‑based alarms, the utility gained timely I&I intelligence to target inspections (CCTV, smoke/dye testing), reduce unnecessary treatment of dilute flows, and protect ageing infrastructure. The result: faster I&I detection at a fraction of the cost, less reliance on manual surveys, and a clear path to lower operational and treatment costs across the sewer network.
