Intelligent Cloud System for Wastewater Management

Taoyuan City, Taiwan

The AR view of underground sewer pipe and manhole for on-site maintenance team could facilitate to locate the pipe position here...

Urban Challenges & Objectives

With the development of sewer and water recycling center constructions in Taoyuan City, the connection rate of the pipeline to sewerage treatment (污水下水道接管率) has increased significantly and is on track to expand in the future. In early 2018, the sewerage system was about 115 kilometers long. It is expected that the connection rate will reach 13% by the end of 2018 and could reach 60% within eight years. Additionally, the construction progress for the storm sewerage system is anticipated to reach 373.39 km in length and a 78.2% connection rate by the end of 2021.

Consequently, pipeline data management is vital. Proper facilities management for the completed sewerage system and sewage treatment plant are crucial to ensure quality operations. 

Result & Reflections

Currently, the cloud system manages over 7,500 manholes/pipes of sewerage, 7,700 manholes/pipes of storm sewerage and six water recycling centers. The system is designed for sustainable sewerage management, and it has achieved targets including the following:

• Unified the sewerage attributes format of Taoyuan City.
• Built a complete database by integrating and importing the existing drawing information and data of sewer systems.
• Upgraded service to the public by establishing an online viewing application.
• Defined IoT infrastructure and created an APP as sewerage management tool.
• Created a real-time water quality monitor APP for six water recycling centers to achieve conducting instant management.
• Reduced reaction time after receiving a sewer facility repairing request by APP.
• Displayed the GIS map layers by connecting to the Taoyuan GIS data warehouse.
• Built an online form to intake public help requests and expedite repairs.

One year after implementation, the cloud system has succeeded in gaining widespread usage, including the following:

• Digitized more than 7,500 manholes/pipes of sewage.
• Digitized more than 7,700 manholes/pipes of storm sewer.
• Obtained real-time data and online documentation of six water recycling centers.
• Monitored 121 ongoing construction sites in time via the system.
• Monitored 33 subcontractors with 1456 car rips for water fertilizer station.
• Dredged a 28.8 km length of storm sewerage.
• Enabled eight cable TV companies to attach 196 km length wires in the storm sewer.
• Received reports of 226 damage issues from the public.

The first step of "Sewerage Cloud Management" involved integrating the project database, GIS and building a business communication platform and application modules for storm and sewerage operation.

In the future, we envision to expand the content. Potential next steps could be to integrate the rain and sewerage facilities data collection, auto-register operating information systems combined with IoT, use CCTV to conduct longitudinal inspections and evaluate structural performance, add real-time information management of the pipeline, and assess the plant site's energy performance.

Based on the potential strategies above, we have divided the project time into four phases, including (1) Solid Foundation, (2) Real-time Monitoring, (3) Assessment Review, and (4) Sustainable Development.

The aforementioned improvements will contribute to a more sustainable development strategy and management of risks, budget, performance, demonstration and assets.

Furthermore, collecting all maintenance data such as water quality, repair and event logs, an intelligent system could suggest an appropriate maintenance frequency of each sewer facility.