PIPE BURSTING WITH

PRE-CHLORINATED PIPE

M U N I C I PA L

SEWER
&
WATER

PAGE 22

PLANNING AHEAD ON
STORM BASIN RESIDUALS
PAGE 30

A LOOK AT THE LATEST

IN INSPECTION EQUIPMENT

TM

PAGE 58

FOR SANITARY, STORM AND WATER SYSTEM MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONALS

February 2006

www.mswmag.com

PAGE 36

UNDER
THE

LIMIT

Controlling infiltration in
Bethlehem Township, Pa.

SHOW ISSUE

FOCUS: SEWER

UNDER
THE

LIMIT

A program of sewer inspection and GIS technology

helps a Pennsylvania township limit I&I, stay within its
treatment allocation, and sustain development
By Suzan Marie Chin

Jeffrey Bogardo, CCTV lead operator, captures and

analyzes mainline survey data on the Township of
Bethlehem inspection and reporting system.

he Township of Bethlehem
in the Lehigh Valley area
of southeast Pennsylvania
has seen unprecedented
growth in the past five
years due to the completion of State
Highway 33, which connects Interstates
80 and 78.
The new road connection positioned Bethlehem Township as a critical
hub of the Northeastern United States,
placing it within 80 minutes of New
York City to the east and 80 minutes
of Philadelphia to the south. The newly
convenient location brought rapid residential and commercial development.
Most newcomers were New Jersey
residents cashing out of high-priced
real estate and buying larger homes in

Pennsylvania, about the same commuting distance from New York City.
Growing population placed an
ever-growing burden on the townships
wastewater treatment and sewer systems.
To help keep up with maintenance of
its underground infrastructure, the
township has adopted a sophisticated
geographic information system that
records all facilities for easy reference.

Regional cooperation
Bethlehem Township is served by a
regional wastewater treatment facility
that handles seven municipalities, each
with a daily capacity allocation. Bethlehem is allotted 2.43 mgd. Keeping the
townships flow under that limit is the
challenge for Steve Hunsberger, director
of physical plant and information services.
As new developments lock up
increasing amounts of the allocation,
Hunsberger and his team work to maximize use of the remaining capacity by
controlling inflow and infiltration (I&I).
A key part of that effort is a proactive
sewer inspection, maintenance and
repair program. The more I&I is limited,
the more the township can develop
without buying more treatment capacity.
Hunsbergers strategy is twofold:
Monitor sewer flows and use the
data to improve collection system
performance.
Aggressively
find and fix

I&I problems.

PROFILE:

Bethlehem
Township, Pa.,
Physical Plant &
Information
Services Dept.
FOUNDED:

1746
POPULATION SERVED:

23,500
CUSTOMERS:

8,700
INFRASTRUCTURE:

127 miles of public sewer

OPERATIONS BUDGET:

$2.75 million (2006)

WEB SITE:

www.bethlehemtwp.com

POINT REPAIRS
To become more self-sufficient and save outside contracting costs,
Bethlehem Township has incorporated new technology for sewer line point
repairs in conjunction with its Pearpoint CCTV inspection truck.
When crews encounter a pipe in need of repair, instead of digging,
they use a new, spot-lining technology and material by Sava Environmental
Protection Products. When the inspection crew identifies a crack or other
problem well suited to point repair, the line is jetted and the camera is
redeployed with a packer device.
The packer carries a fiberglassresin-lined material, similar to a sock,
which is pulled into position where
the crack or other defect exists. The
camera provides a visual reference to
Step 1: The Sava
point repair packer
is deployed into
position.

Manhole information is part of Bethlehem

Townships integrated mapping system.
Survey footage of related mainlines can
be viewed.

A key part of the total strategy is

the townships ArcMap GIS from
ESRI. Bethlehems surrounding county,
Northampton, provided a complete
aerial photography survey of the region
at low cost. The surveys were completed
at 100 scale in most areas and at 400
scale in the outer regions.
The township used the surveys to
create a municipal base map that
includes digitized property boundaries,
elevations, streams, rivers and other
natural features. Township staff then
digitized the sewer system as one of
many layers added to the map.
We looked at this highly functional
mapping system and decided that we
needed it to integrate thoroughly with
our public sewer system, Hunsberger
explains. That allows us to track any
type of repair, schedule repairs, and
maintain an accurate inventory and
analysis of each and every manhole and
sewer segment within the community.

Every drop of I&I

we stop is one drop
of capacity that we gain,
and thats key to our
programs success.
Steve Hunsberger

Relatively new
The townships sewer system is only
26 years old the first piece of pipe was
installed in 1979. As development proceeded, different construction companies
presented different numbering systems
for manholes in new subdivisions. This
led to duplication and lack of uniformity.

Step 2: The packer is inflated to begin the

chemical reaction/adhesion process. Step 3:
The inflated packer is left in the pipeline until
the resin material fully hardens.

A Pearpoint
P400 Series
mainline inspection
camera and tractor begin
a new survey at the manhole
deployment site.

Township staff decided to renumber

all manholes through the GIS. Sewer
districts were developed, and the manholes were assigned numbers in a
sequence to correlate with the district
in which they were located. What the
renumbering did for us was create an
easy method to track a manhole and its
related sewer segments and to identify
its specific geographic location with x/y
coordinates, says Hunsberger. We
could then pinpoint specific locations
and attach data to them.
The next step was to collect data,
and the mapping system segued
seamlessly into the townships CCTV
inspection and survey data recording
program. The township inspects pipe
with a custom-built inspection truck
supplied by Pearpoint and equipped
with a P494 pan-and-tilt camera, 4/6wheel drive transporter, motorized
cable drum, and onboard computer-

verify that the packer is in the proper position. The packer

is then inflated (this can be done under flow). As it inflates,
it pushes the resin material tightly against the pipe walls. A
chemical reaction with the resin then hardens the material.
Within two hours, the reaction is complete and the
packer can be deflated and pulled out of position. The cost of a
typical repair is $250 in material plus crew labor time. Repairs
that in the past cost us upwards of $15,000 to $20,000 and days of
roadway interruption can now be handled in hours by our own crew at
just a fraction of the cost, says Steve Hunsberger, director of physical
plant and information services.

ized data collection system.

Crew amenities include a microwave
oven, refrigerator, water cooler and
bathroom. By including these small
comforts in the truck design, we enable
the crew to go out at 8 a.m. each day
and stay on the truck, says Hunsberger.
Our two-man crew does a great job.
They love their work, and they are
conscientious about it. It isnt unusual
for them to complete surveys of 2,000
feet a day, five days a week.

Recruiting quality
Hunsberger and his team selected
their camera equipment after a thorough
evaluation process in which five manufacturers gave demonstrations. They are
equally careful in recruiting CCTV crew
members. They specifically seek people
with strong technological aptitude and
a desire to work in the field.
Lead operator Jeffrey Bogardo has

10 years of municipal experience and

recently spent 12 years as a programmer
for a local firm. The other team member,
Joseph Curran, had limited municipal
experience but grasped the technology
and, with his natural desire to take
ownership, made the team a winning
combination, Hunsberger said.
The crew received additional oneon-one training from Pearpoint.
Whenever you transition teams in a
technological position such as a CCTV
operator, I would recommend manufacturer training, says Hunsberger. My
new team learned a great deal from the
Pearpoint trainers and had prepared
pages of questions before the trainers
arrived. They now know how to operate
and maintain the equipment more
effectively.
The inspection team focuses on
locating and correcting I&I problems,
working in tandem with a jetting crew.

While televising, they inspect segment

manholes, recording details, such as
physical measurements and the number
of paving rings used.
To help reduce inflow, the township
uses plastic inserts that fit under manhole lids like dishes to catch surface
water. As the crew finishes surveying
each manhole, they install the insert
where needed. This simple device
(about $23 each) prevents inflow
during wet weather.
All this work in turn is recorded
into the survey system and the GIS
map. In conjunction with inspection,
Bethlehem has installed state-of-the-art
wireless flow metering devices, made by
Isco, throughout the community. The
metering system incorporates radio
reading at vital points.
When the CCTV truck pulls up to
the location of the meter, a radio
modem inside is activated. Detailed
flow information can be downloaded
from or uploaded to the meter without
the operator leaving the truck. This
data helps track flows and pinpoints
potential I&I problem areas. When
problem areas are noted, inspection
and jetting crews work assignments are
shifted to areas that show the highest
levels of infiltration.

Integrating technology
The townships ability to integrate
its technology and collected data is vital.
To that end, Hunsberger and his team
developed a series of tools to marry the
technology so that access to data comes
primarily from within the GIS.
The renumbering of manholes was
within the GIS, and the drawing of
sewer district boundaries created an
electronic common reference language
from the CCTV truck and Isco meters
to the GIS. If my crew is televising in
Sewer District 42, all of the manholes in
that district will be Manhole #42-___,
Hunsberger explains.
We can isolate where they are working, and we can track the exact information that comes out of the inspection
right down to viewing the MPEG survey
recording of the sewer segments within
that sewer district, as well as the flow measurement data, all within the GIS map.
The township uses PACP standards
for identifying and categorizing sewer
defects. The inspection truck is equipped
with flexidata pipe survey data collection software from PipeLogix. The GIS
and flexidata programs are housed
together on the trucks computer for
the crew to use simultaneously.
The flexidata system seamlessly integrates with the GIS, and the crew uses
all the PACP standards, which are built
into the survey program. Never having

Above, Bethlehem Townships

custom-built Pearpoint
CCTV inspection truck.
At left, the CCTV team:
Jeffrey Bogardo and Joseph
Curran.

used any type of program before flexidata, the crew has been taught from the
start the correct method for defect
assessment, Hunsberger says.
The township has also worked with
its GIS consultant, Brian A. Higgins, GISP,
of The ARRO Group to develop other
data collection tools to integrate with
GIS mapping. All maintenance tasks are
input directly to a Visual Basic application Access database running in ArcMap.

ment employ a systematic

approach, addressing issues as
they encounter them. Rather
than going out and all at one
time trying to make something
happen as a result of collecting
data, we let the data dictate immediately
what needs to be done, Hunsberger
explains.
The department does not expect
this approach to create instant miraculous changes and savings, but over time
Hunsberger expects it to reduce I&I,
improve system functionality, and
potentially uncover more I&I issues.
He estimates that if just 100,000 gpd
of unnecessary flow were found, the

We looked at this highly functional mapping system

and decided that we needed it to integrate thoroughly
with our public sewer system. That allows us to track
any type of repair, schedule repairs, and maintain
an accurate inventory and analysis of each and every
manhole and sewer segment within the community.
Steve Hunsberger
I can now click on a manhole in
the GIS system and pull up all of the
related information, Hunsberger says.
I can click on a sewer segment and,
without even bringing up the video,
know what maintenance the crew conducted, the segments history, details
about the district, when it was last
inspected, and more, all because that
information is now part of the GIS.

Attacking problems
When it comes to problems and
repairs, Hunsberger and his depart-

savings over a year in treatment cost

alone would be nearly $50,000. That is
in addition to the value of the capacity
itself that same 100,000 gpd in treatment plant expansion is worth an estimated $1.1 million. Every drop of I&I
we stop is one drop of capacity that we
gain, and thats key to our programs
success, Hunsberger says.
The township is now exploring the
incorporation of wireless connectivity
throughout the municipality for all
departments. This service mainly for
police, fire and ambulance services

can also be used to move GIS network

data.
At present, the CCTV crew can
upload/download and connect wirelessly to the central network in designated hot spots. Beginning in March
2006, the CCTV crew will be able to
upload all video and data collected on
the CCTV truck to a high-capacity video
storage server on the network. The network video server will be a replication
of the data stored on the trucks
onboard computer. This will enable
management quick access to pipe survey data that has just been collected.
Since Hunsberger is responsible for
the townships entire technology infrastructure, his goal is to expand from
local hot spot connectivity to the network
to municipal-wide, area connectivity.

Daily savings
With all its data now accessible at
the click of the mouse on the GIS,
Hunsberger and his team can effectively
stay on top of I&I issues, control flows,
and streamline costs. By using all of
our technology tools and data to pinpoint problems, resolve issues quickly
and systematically make repairs, we can

Joseph Curran sets up a down-hole

roller system for deployment of the
inspection camera.

reduce the wastewater discharge flow

being metered, thus creating money savings on a daily basis, Hunsberger says.
By embracing technology, Bethlehem
Township sets an example for effective
sewer system management. Hunsberger
encourages other municipalities to
develop a technology system that
allows you to track and maintain information about what you are about to do,
what youve done, and what needs to be
accomplished, and constantly maintain
that information.
That kind of approach helps ensure
Bethlehem Townships position as one
of Pennsylvanias top economic growth
communities.

2006, COLE Publishing Inc. Reprinted with permission from Municipal Sewer & Water / Feb. 2006 / COLE Publishing Inc., P.O. Box 220, Three Lakes, WI 54562 / 800-257-7222 / www.mswmag.com