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Utility Construction & Rehabilitation

Sewer Defect Codes

Orgin And Destination
By Rod Thornhill and Phil Wildbore

S ewer defect coding has become of para-

mount importance for the worldwide
sewer rehabilitation industry to ascertain
technology and expertise, and give the con-
trol of water quality in a particular drainage
basin to a single authority. As a result, the
Since May 1978, pipe defects from inter-
nal surveys of sewer systems have been ana-
lyzed to determinee the causes of premature
critical information regarding the under- staffing levels decreased between 1974 to pipeline failure. Correlations have also been
ground infrastructure. It is significant for 1989 from 80,000 to 50,000. identified with key environmental factors
all elements dealing with sewer systems that accelerate these failures. An objective
– municipalities, consulting engineers and Privatization in the initial research over 25 years ago was
contractors – to understand the origins to establish the types and frequency of ob-
The U.K.’s Water Act of 1989 enacted by the served defects within the sewer pipes, what
and ultimate goal for defining sewer defect Thatcher government effectively privatized
codes. Early research and development in these meant, and from these make confi-
the 10 Water Authorities into Water Utili- dent provision for a future rehabilitation
the United Kingdom paved the way for the ties, and by 1995 transferred the responsi-
development of NASSCO’s Pipeline Assess- program at least cost. At that time, sewer
bility of quality regulation to the Environ- survey methods were in their infancy, so
ment & Certification Program in the United ment Agency. In 1989, the Office of Water
States and related programs around the “how good is the data we can get” and “how
Services (OfWat) was established as the do we improve on this” were basic ques-
world. price and service regulator for the priva-
It is not surprising that formal sewer tions. Systems for the recording, retrieval
tized water utilities in England and Wales. and analysis of data were also evaluated.
defect coding began in the U.K. Although An increasing awareness that better It became evident that broad categories
not totally driven by catastrophic collaps- management of infrastructure was needed, of defined defects were required, together
es of the collection system, by the 1970s along with the occurrence of several highly with a classification method. This initial
the number of large trucks disappearing publicized pipe failures, prompted the cre- system needed to be capable of abstracting
through holes in the road caused by sewer ation of the Standing Committee on Sew- data from written and CCTV type surveys,
failures was increasing. ers and Water Mains of the National Water and provide a consistent approach in order
The “Commissions of Sewers” was estab- Council. The Standing Committee’s first re- to deliver confidence. The initial focus was
lished in 1427 during the reign of Henry port was titled “Sewer and Water Mains – A on manufactured pipes like concrete and
VI, and the U.K. developed a Bill of Sew- National Assessment (U.K., 1977).” Conclu- clayware, and not defects in brickwork and
ers by 1531. In more modern times, the sions from the report were: masonry sewers, but it was recognized that
Land Drainage Act of 1930 gave rise to the
Recognition that infrastructure needs in any base system of Defect Codes needed to
concept of the “Catchment Board,” re- the U.K. was transitioning from expansion have future flexibility to be extended as ex-
sponsible for discreet river basins. Modern to renewal;
perience was gained.
times also created an awareness for better
A lack of basic asset condition knowledge
management of water quality related was evident;

Better condition assessment and cost Parameters
infrastructure.
Enactment of Public Law 92-500, the tracking was needed; and Important parameters survive today from
Clean Water Act of 1972, meant big chang-
Identified need for research to improve this embryonic work in 1978, such as the
es in the way the federal government ap- asset management and renewal. definition of measuring where the survey
proached water quality in the United States This resulted in a project by the Water starts and the distance to the defect; the
as well. This landmark legislation included Research Centre (WRc) and the Transport adoption of a clock reference to specify the
and Road Research Laboratory to develop a defect on the circumference of the pipe; and
the establishment of the Environmen-
methodology for describing internal sewer all of the 21 descriptions that follow.
tal Protection Agency, the Construction
pipe conditions. The Transport and Road
Grants Program and the National Pollution Research Laboratory Supplementary Re- The 1978 embryo codes contained seven
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). port 377 (TRRL 377) was the beginning of structural condition defects:
Changes were also occurring in the U.K. sewer defect coding using the WRc method.
Cracked ‘C’ – lines visible, pipe pieces all
Like the United States, 20th century water The codes used in TRRL 377 are sometimes in place;
and wastewater service in the U.K. was pri- referred to as the “Embryonic Codes” since
Fractured ‘F’ – cracks visibly open, pipe
marily individual authorities or municipali- they preceded the first WRc Manual of Sew- pieces all in place;
ties, regional authorities and some private er Condition Classification (MSSC). These
Broken ‘B’ – pieces of pipe displaced,
water and wastewater providers. The Water codes still form the backbone of all WRc some could be missing;
Act of 1973 transformed the many disparate related coding systems.
Deformed ‘D’ – out of expected shape,
public water agencies into 10 separate Re- Beyond identifying conditions within the probably also broken;
gional Water Authorities (RWAs) to supply sewers, it was also recognized that more
Collapsed ‘X’ – loss of all structural in-
water and wastewater services. The RWAs research and knowledge was needed to in- tegrity;
were divided along river basin boundar- terpret the conditions and understand the
Joint Displaced ‘JD’ – faulty alignment
ies and were named for the corresponding mechanisms for pipe failure. Therefore, between consecutive pipes;
region they served. The primary reason WRc began the development of what would
Open Joint ‘OJ’ – longitudinal movement
regionalization was imposed was to create become the Sewerage Rehabilitation Manu- between adjacent pipes.
more efficient operations, raise the level of al (SRM) in 1978. Plus, seven service condition codes:

32 Underground Construction undergroundconstructiononline.com April 2005


Tree Root Penetration ‘R’;

Infiltration ‘I’;

Encrustation ‘E’ – typically dissolved salts
deposited on pipe walls;

Obstruction ‘OB’ – solid material causing
hydraulic reduction;

Debris ‘DB’ – organic/silty material, typi-
cally sedimentation;

Water Level ‘WL’ – a short discontinuity
in the pipe gradient; and

Line ‘LE’ – a divergence to left or right.
And, two construction condition codes:

Defective Connection ‘CN’ – wrongly po-
sitioned/inserted lateral pipe; and

Defective Junction ‘JN’ – damage to a
purpose-made lateral connector.
These 16 codes were – and still are – the
fundamental codes for defects, and were
quickly able to be uniquely abbreviated to
facilitate a “shorthand” system, e.g., C =
cracked pipe, F = fractured; R = Tree Roots;
DE = Debris; JN = Junction.
By necessity, there were also five miscel-
laneous codes identifying the Start ‘ST’,
Finish ‘FN’ and Abandonment ‘SA’ of a sur-
vey, together with Manhole ‘MH’ and Invert
‘I’ codes. Interestingly,  was included to
identify a continuous defect.
The codes were then supplemented by
two factors. A descriptor, used to identify a
type or location as:

Cracked
Longitudinal/circumferential/
multiple, or

Deformed
% of pipe diameter lost
(to nearest 5%), or

Roots
Joint (if at a joint).
Next, a modifier, used to visually
quantify, as:

Cracked
Longitudinal
Clock Reference

Roots
Joint
Fine/Mass/Tap

Infiltration
“Clock ref”
Seeper/Dripper//Runner/Gusher

Encrustation
Joint
Heavy/Medium/Light

Connection
“Clock ref”
Cracked/fractured/broken/
deformed/intrusion.
In 1978 – somewhat in advance of wide-
spread computer applications: ‘Pipe frac-
tured around a joint from 2 o’clock to 4
o’clock and from 7 o’clock to 10 o’clock
with running infiltration through fractures
would be reported as: FCJ02040710 IJR.

April 2005 undergroundconstructiononline.com Underground Construction 33

U-Tech
This defect coding system was tried on costs, a set of rules for the U.K. industry were identified which located these critical sewers.
two, 300 meter lengths of sewer: one pre- These then became a more manageable proportion of the network – in 2003 these equalled
cleaned, one not. Operators were required 77,811.53 km of the 302,078.70 km total – and are the primary sewers to be managed on
to codify the defects from CCTV tapes and a pro-active basis.
written reports. The new system indicated The second issue was addressed by devising a scoring system for each defect. This was
interpretation accuracy of 82 percent and formulated from hundreds of visits to actual sewer collapses and distress testing of pipes in
without any operative pre-training. It also laboratories. These also established the collapse mechanisms prior to failure and identified
indicated that higher reporting accuracies
the important indicators. The scoring system for the Internal Condition Grade (ICG) ranks
were attained when the sewer was pre-
sewers into five grades, with ‘1’ being good and ‘5’ being bad.
cleaned.
A quantitative and qualitative defect cod- ICG 1 2 3 4 5
ing system for sewers had been proven, to- Score <10 10-39 40-79 80-164 >165
gether with a simple FORTRAN computer
application for data storage and analysis. It It is easy to see how consecutive surveys applying a scoring would indicate a deteriora-
also made the case that only if a common tion profile.
format were adopted could “operator inter-
pretation” be minimized and recommenda- Environmental factors
tions based on reliable information be made The application of environmental factors followed on from the scoring sytems and im-
with confidence. proved on the internal condition grades, taking into account external factors like construc-
tion techniques, hydraulic stresses, surrounding soil, etc. It is evident that a pipe laid with
Continued motivations concrete bed and surround is inherently stronger than a plain pipe laid in bare earth, yet
A few years later, a House of Lords Se- the CCTV camera cannot appreciate this. Likewise, a defective pipe subjected to regular
lect Committee said of the U.K.: “There is internal hydraulic surcharge, or one laid in very poor ground – or both circumstances
enough evidence to believe that there is a combined – is much more likely to deteriorate faster than a similar pipe not subject to
significant risk of decay in the sewerage such adverse conditions. Tabulations within the U.K. SRM enable such additional risks to
system getting beyond the (owners) con- be factored onto the internal condition grade to generate a structural performance grade.
trol. Too little has been spent on maintain- Application since 1983 for the now privatized U.K. water and sewer utilities indicate the
ing the system in the past, and the industry, following asset balance, with a rehabilitation rate of 0.06 percent or 0.2 percent of the
faced with signs of accelerating failure rates, critical sewers/year.
does not yet appear to be doing enough to
ICG 1 2 3 4 5
contain the rate of decay.” Fortunately, the 60% 17% 13% 8% 2%
UK
public water industry of the U.K. had in- 2003
Sewerage
vested heavily and requested WRc to imple-
ment a major program of research into all As a result of the early work developing the SRM, the industry was delivered an expanded
problems relating to sewer systems. The ‘Manual of Sewer Condition Classification’ (MSCC1) in May 1980.
major output of this was the Sewerage Re-
habilitation Manual (SRM) in 1983. MSCC1 Codes – May 1980 to 1988
The SRM had five major impacts on the
The major development within MSCC1 was the specific coding regime for brick sewers, as
1978 embryonic sewer defect codes:
the development of the Sewer Rehabilitation Manual to be released in 1983, had indicated

It recognized that 80 percent of the costs
a different set of collapse mechanism for brick sewers than with pipe sewers. The brick
of dealing with sewer incidents were fo-
codes only amended the Structural Condition elements, with Service Condition and Con-
cused on around 10 percent of the sewer
struction Features relating equally to both brick and pipe sewers.
network;
The MSSC1 Structural Condition codes for pipe sewers were identical to the embryo

It recognized that not all sewer defects
codes, and retained the same modifiers. Service Condition codes added ‘Scale (ES)’ as a
were equal. Some were highly important,
separate code to Encrustation (E) to represent solid deposits such as corrosion within iron
others were less;
pipes, or hardened grout. Construction Features expanded considerably from the Defec-

It recognized that environmental factors
tive Junction/Defective Connection in the embryo codes. In total three new codes were
referenced in the initial 1978 work were
added for:
key factors in accelerating the decay of a

Junction ‘JN’ - a purpose made or preformed connection built into the sewer line during
defective sewer;
construction;

It recognized that the 1978 defect clas-

Connection ‘CN’ - a lateral pipe added to the sewer post-construction;
sification work needed to be a national

Major Branch ‘BR’ - applied to sewers >900mm diameter, to represent drop shafts, air
document to provide a common frame-
vents, overflows and comparably sized pipes to the main sewer;
work; and

Intruding ‘I’ was also incorporated as a descriptor, primarily for use with Connection to

That the nature of the defects would be a
reference a lateral pipe which intrudes into the main sewer.
critical factor in any successful rehabilita-
tion program. The Miscellaneous codes were also widened with three new codes to signify:
In referencing the first point, the con-
Diameter Checked ‘DC’;
cept of Critical Sewers was born. Sewerage/
General Condition Photograph ‘GP’, and
collection systems by their very nature tend
Camera Underwater ‘CU’.
to be substantial in asset value and pipeline The new codes for brick sewers accessed the same range of modifiers as the embryo codes
length, yet because most of the flow is de- but specified nine distinct codes:
pendant upon gravity, they function well.
Mortar missing ‘M’ - between bricks, with bricks still in place. Split into three
Knowing that such a small portion of the modifiers of Surface(<15mm); Medium(15-50mm); and Total(>50mm);
network was responsible for such extensive
Cracked ‘C’ - as per pipe codes, and with bricks still in place;

34 Underground Construction undergroundconstructiononline.com April 2005


Fractured ‘F’ - where bricks have moved of a suite of publications covering sewer- At this point, the MSCC2 codes were ad-
apart; age data collection. This suite also incor- opted by water utilities in Australia. While

Displaced Bricks ‘DB’ - where single/ porated Model Contact documents for the some changes were made to accommodate
areas of bricks have moved from original sub-letting of survey work to private con- differences in conditions and materials, the
position; tractors, for both man-entry and non-man MSCC2 codes and methodology was largely

Missing Bricks ‘MB’- where single/areas entry sewer surveys. Over 60 percent of adopted into the first Australian Conduit
of bricks are missing; MSCC2 was dedicated to the “Standard- Evaluation Manual (ACCEM, 1991, Austra-

Surface Damage ‘S’- by spalling where ized Coding Form.” This enabled all CCTV lia).
pieces have splintered off, or Wear, e.g., and man-entry surveys to record data in
such as by the action of cleansing tools; the same format, and provided for 33 fields MSCC3 – August 1993 to

Deformed Sewer ‘D’ - where original in the header details to accurately specify January 2004
cross section of sewer is altered; each sewer length. (Another of the “suite
The wider availability and application of

Dropped Invert ‘DI’- where there is a of publications” dealt with a process of giv-
computer coding programs for recoding
pronounced gap between invert and ing every manhole in England and Wales a
and analyzing CCTV data in particular, re-
sewer wall. unique, 10-digit reference number for the
quired an expansion of all codes to assist
upstream and downstream manholes. This
MSCC1 comprised: with this implementation. The opportunity
avoided the random allocation of start and

Seven Structural Condition codes for was also taken to simplify the coding pro-
finish manholes, and the subsequent poor
pipe sewers – C,F,B,D,X,JD,OJ; cess and provide a more comprehensive set
assignment/recollection of videotapes to
● With six modifiers – L,C,M – for of comparative photographs.
surveyed sewer lengths.)
describing the alignment of the The adoption of Critical Sewers as a pri-
A Standardized Coding Form was split
crack/facture, and S,M,L – to quantify mary means of regulatory monitoring in
into two sections: the header and the body
the other defects. (These were related the U.K. led to the inclusion of a data field
of the recording format. The 33 fields in
to the pipe wall thickness ‘t’, where Small to signify the sewer category. Pre-Cleaning
the header recorded details such as: who
<t; Medium t-1.5t, and Large >1.5t; of the sewer, where positively known, was
did the survey; at what time/date and what

Nine Structural Condition codes for also included for contractors to record.
was the weather (important for I/I surveys);
brick sewers – M,C,F,DB,MB,S,D,X,DI Sewer Condition Codes was now grouped,
what is the use/depth/shape/material/year
● With ten modifiers – L,C,M as per and the separate code distinction between
laid of the sewer and where is it positioned
pipe sewers; S,M,T for the missing mor- pipe and brick sewers removed. Fifteen
(road, field, etc.)? Clock referencing of de-
tar; S&W for the spalling/wear of Surface years of implementation had identified the
fects was retained without modification
Damage; and, V&H for the horizontal/ most common code/modifier combina-
from MSCC1/embryonic codes.
vertical indication of Deformation. tions, so these were harmonized, and in-

Eight Service Condition codes – dices presented codes alphabetically, and
R,I,E,ES,DE,OB,WL,L; MSCC2 Codes – 1988 to 1993 in their groups: Crack Longitudinal ‘CL’;
● With sixteen modifiers: Structural Condition Codes for Pipe Sew- Crack Circumferential ‘CC’; Cracks Mul-

Fine ‘F’, Mass ‘M’, Tap ‘T’ for Tree ers incorporated Surface Damage – previ- tiple ‘CM’; etc. While the demarcations re-
Roots, ously only applicable to brick sewers – with mained between structural condition, ser-

Seeper ‘S’, Dripper ‘D’, Runner ‘R’, the same two modifiers of spalling and wear. vice, construction and miscellaneous codes
Gusher ‘G’ for Infiltration, This now made eight structural condition the 67 ‘Codes’ were used and referred to as

Heavy ‘H’ (>20%), Medium ‘M’ (5- codes for pipe sewers. a single entity. The one significant entry
20%), Light ‘L’ (<5%) for Encrusta- Structural Condition Codes for Brick was Hole ‘H’ to record a total area of miss-
tion and Scale; Sewers were unchanged, as were Service ing pipe material. Lining Defect ‘LD’ was

Silt ‘S’, and Grease ‘G’ to describe Condition and Construction Feature Codes. also added.
Debris, and Miscellaneous Codes gained three new

Left ‘L’ Right ‘R’ Up ‘U’ Down ‘D’ to codes to record changes to Lining ‘LC’; International development
reference Line. Material ‘MC’; Shape ‘SC’; and Pipe Length Australia - During the time of MSCC2, the

Six Construction Features codes – ‘PC’. A code to record Vermin ‘V’ was also major water authorities of Australia devel-
JN,JX,CN,CX,BR,MH added to bring the total number of Miscel- oped the first edition of the Australian Con-
● With a descriptor Intruding ‘I’. laneous Codes to eleven. duit Condition Evaluation Manual in June

Six Miscellaneous codes – Significant emphasis was made of the 1991. This 144-page book brought together
ST, FH, SA, DC, GP, CU. Continuous Defect Facility, - previously MSCC2 with relevant text from SRM2, and
only half a page in MSCC1 – and covered the Model Contract Documents for man-en-
The MSCC1 also included formal rules
truly continuous defects, repeated continu- try and non-man-entry sewer inspections.
for coding continuous defects instead of
ous defects, and wandering defects. Subsequently, the new Sewer Inspection
relying on the asterisk notation. Also im-
A truly continuous defect extends beyond Reporting Code for Australia was developed
proved rules for data entry set the stage for
one meter and without interruption. A typi- from the June 1991 manual and from EN-
better computerization of coding.
cal example is longitudinal fracture/cracks, 13508-2, primarily to benefit from the major
or missing mortar. technological advances. The updated Aus-
MSCC2 published Repeated continuous defects occur at tralian Code is scheduled to be published in
The codes in the MSCC1 served the U.K. regular intervals, and can be exampled by 2005. The Australians remained faithful to
water industry for eight years, through a circumferential fractures, encrustation and the Euro Codes, where practical. However,
process of regionalizing the industry into open gaps at pipe joints. Use of ‘repeated’ the conditions encountered in Australia ne-
10 water and sewer authorities. In 1988, means that at least three out of every four cessitated additional codes, particularly the
MSCC2 was published in time for the joints are affected. unlined and plastilined concrete sewers. An
privatization of the 10 regional water and A wandering defect is the same defect that effort is now underway to convert existing
sewer companies in 1989, and formed part has a change in “clock’ reference.” CCTV software versions to using the new

April 2005 undergroundconstructiononline.com Underground Construction 35

U-Tech
May 1978, Embryo Codes

1980 MSCC1

1988 MSCC2
1991, Australian Conduit
Condition Evaluation Manual NAPPI, 1997
1993 MSCC3
2003, EN 13508: Part 2 2002, PACP
NASSCO

January 2004, MSCC4

2004, Southeast Asia
2004, India
2005 Updated Austrailian Conduit
Condition Evalutation Manual

codes, and to expand training on use of the veloped a Microsoft Access database that U.S. However, since PACP has its roots in
new codes. serves as a means of exchanging PACP WRc/Euro Codes and WRc was largely re-
Canada – The North American Association data between different software applica- sponsible for the development of the PACP
of Pipeline Inspectors (NAPPI) adopted the tions; codes, integration with other WRc coding
WRc MSCC3 codes in the 1990s and pro-
PACP Software Vendor Certification systems is manageable.
vides training and certification on use WRc – NASSCO independently certifies that
codes throughout Canada. Many public each CCTV vendor’s software correctly European Union - In producing the new
wastewater agencies, contractors and en- implements the PACP codes and coding ‘Euro Code’ – EN13508: Part 2 – in 2003,
gineering firms thus have standardized on rules, and exports the PACP data to the the knowledge and application from within
the MSCC3 codes. PACP Standard Database format; and the U.K. was substantially used to provide

Grading – NASSCO developed a simpli- a common language throughout Europe
United States – NASSCO, the leading na- for the exchange of information on sewer
fied method of assigning severity to the
tional trade organization for the rehabilita-
various defects and grading each pipeline defects. The incorporation of condition
tion industry, recognized the establishment
of a standard for sewer pipeline assessment similar to the internal condition grade codes for manholes and chambers led to
was greatly needed in the United States. used by WRc. The NASSCO grading does the production of the latest Manual of
NASSCO entered into an agreement with not include consideration of environ- Sewer Classification Version 4 (MSCC4) in
WRc for assistance in the development of mental factors such as soil type, ground- January 2004. A simplified set of codes was
a national standard for defect coding. The water conditions, surcharging or critical- also offered where internal drain sizes are
basis for the new standard was the MSCC3/ ity of the pipe. less than 150mm (6 inches) diameter. In es-
EN13508: Part 2. The U.S. standard was Although development of a U.S. standard sence, the well established Manual of Sewer
called the Pipeline Assessment and Certifi- for defect coding was long in coming, the Condition Classification codes adopted and
cation Program or PACP. fact that no standard yet existed provided applied in the U.K. were deemed to be the
PACP development is comprised of the some advantages for NASSCO. They were most tried and trusted methodologies avail-
following components; able to implement the PACP Standard Da- able. They also had the benefit of plugging

PACP manual - Creation of codes, cod- tabase without consideration of any pre- these codes straight into the Sewerage Re-
ing rules, code tables, photographs and vious CCTV legacy data issue already in habilitation Manual and delivering a com-
descriptions of defects; use. The ability to start with a clean slate prehensive asset management strategy for

Training course - Development of train- also precluded any other issues regarding system owners.
ing modules and a network of trainers transition from previous versions of cod-
that provide training in a classroom en- ing such as operator certification, updates The United Kingdom - Although still pre-
vironment. Attendees are tested on their of the manual, or compatibility of software sented as a single manual, MSCC4 was sep-
understanding of the PACP material and vendors.
arated into two parts, and included a set of
receive PACP User certification upon suc- Like the Australian Code, PACP has some
eight ready reference laminated code sheets
cessful completion of the class; differences from the Euro Code due to the
for use on site. Part A of MSCC4 includes

PACP Standard Database – NASSCO de- nature of sewers and terminology in the

36 Underground Construction undergroundconstructiononline.com April 2005

drains and sewers, while Part B references the inside of a sewer pipe. Only adhering
manholes and inspection chambers. A simi- to a standard descriptive and visual refer-
lar format of Standard Coding Form is used ence will the data derived contain the con-
for both parts, but is not interchangeable. stancy and confidence necessary to base the
MSCC4 was published in January 2004 magnitude of decision needed for sewer
and will become the U.K. standard in May renovation.
2005. Summary
Asia and the Pacific Rim - Many countries Development of a standardized approach
are now undertaking the development of to internal sewer pipeline assessment is
standardized CCTV coding, including Ma- recognized as an indispensable first step
laysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, in improving sewer asset management.
Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, While each of the current WRc lineage cod-
Laos and Burma with assistance from WRc ing standards has provincial difference,
and in accordance with the EN13508 Part 2 they all have the commonality of the EN-
framework. 13508 Part 2 standards. The establishment
of these coding standards in the United
What lies ahead? States, the U.K., Australia, Europe and oth-
er countries around the world will enhance
What might be the future application of
the technology of sewer asset management
“The Codes”? The original work in 1978
everywhere.
identified that assessing the internal condi-
tion of a pipeline is only part of the story. About The Authors:
Not only do these defects need to be ranked Rod Thornhill is president of White Rock
in some order of severity, but also together Consultants with offices in Dallas and Fort
with external factors such as the soil type Worth, TX. He was instrumental in adapt-
surrounding the pipe and frequency of sur- ing the WRc codes to a U.S. standard and
charging within the pipe: for example, can helping to launch NASSCO’s PACP.
a true likelihood of failure be implied? The Phil Wildbore was the primary contact with
Sewerage Rehabilitation Manual Version 4 WRc during implementation of the PACP,
remains the source for this type of data as and managed similar projects for WRc
proven for U.K. conditions. Elsewhere, tools throughout the world. He recently joined
such as the SRM need to be developed. the Department for Environment Food and
Doubtless, technology will advance to in- Rural Affairs and will head a new effort to
clude lasers for accurate internal measure- improve the management of private sewers
ments, thereby replacing some of the more and drains in the U.K.
subjective assessments. Engineers can al-
ready have circular images along the axis
of the pipe laid out as a flat piece of paper. Sample of Defect Codes
Emerging technology enables U.S. to pre-
pare for surveys other than visual such as Defect EN13508-2 WRC Code PACP
applying microwaves to see through certain Description Code Code
pipes to find voids, tree roots and obstruc-
tions to some rehabilitation options; or the
use of infrared, sonar or holographic meth- Surface Damage SRI, SAV, SAP
ods. Most will start a specialist application, Wear BAF (A or B) SSS, M, L SRC, etc.
but even at this stage data will need to be
recorded in an efficient way. Mass-market
applications will make this doubly impor-
tant. Some utilities already envision having Displaced Bricks BAD A DB DB
the equivalent of medical “body scanners”
for use from the street surface to evaluate
all assets – and within the next decade.
Camera technology, with GPS to provide
location, and “wireless/remote” operation,
will remove the current restrictions of teth-
ered cameras. This will enable much more
of a network to be surveyed and the auto-
matic coding/recording of defects.
Programs are also well advanced that can
take coded CCTV surveys as a component
to the computerized rehabilitation of sewer
systems to define whole life costs and maxi-
mize asset life.
In the meantime, however, the one-on-
one interaction of man and machine will
remain the predominate tool for assessing

April 2005 undergroundconstructiononline.com Underground Construction 37