Eleven Steps to a Healthy Sanitary Sewer Collection System

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”- Benjamin Franklin. For far too long we in Oklahoma have been ignoring our sanitary sewer systems. Just like our personal health, if we do not practice a proactive approach to maintaining our aging systems, we will encounter costly consequences to our sewer systems sooner or later. If we take measures to maintain our sewers, we can minimize costly repairs and rehabilitations. It is time to stop putting “band aids” on our sewer lines and get them in shape. Here are 11 steps to help you get started on your sanitary sewer line maintenance program.

1. Use Global Information System (GIS) mapping to understand your system. An effective sewer maintenance program revolves around knowing the location of all infrastructure, pipe sizes, length and depth of lines, types of pipe and materials used in manholes. Accurate GIS mapping can help track completed rehabilitation and replacement work, but it begins with identifying exactly where manholes and lamp holes are located.

2. Inspect manholes on a schedule. Depending on the size of your system and staff availability, this may be once a year or every other year. Inspecting manholes will alert you to issues such as excessive debris and blockages, structural issues, and inflow and infiltration sources. Keep records using manhole inspection forms to track maintenance and rehabilitation needs.

3. Perform Draw Down Tests if you have lift stations. The test verifies proper pump performance and should be conducted annually at every lift station to identify issues with floats, isolate excessive grease, and confirm check valves are functional. You might want to check the Air Relief pits to make sure the ball valves are operating efficiently while you are doing the tests.

4. Verify your municipality has an ordinance requiring grease traps at businesses. Restaurants, gas stations, car washes, and other businesses that discharge fats, oils, and grease (FOG) should install a grease trap to avoid clogging the sewer system. Perform random inspections to ensure proper installation and maintenance of grease traps.

5. Do construction observations on sanitary sewer installations for new developments. Sanitary sewers that are not properly bedded are a major problem that leads to further problems for the municipality down the road. Offset frames and covers, chimney damage, and broken pipe are just a few problems resulting from improper new construction. Make sure your sewer mains are identified prior to trenching, drilling, or boring projects to avoid conflicts with your system. Before a developer passes new infrastructure on to the municipality, make sure to perform mandrel testing on sewer mains, and vacuum tests on manholes to confirm proper construction. Also conduct a warranty inspection prior to the warranty expiration to verify whether issues with materials or workmanship have developed during the warranty period.

6. Establish a routine cleaning and jetting program on sewer mains. This process will remove debris buildup and attached deposits to ensure your system is flowing properly and capacity is not being compromised. Jetting and cleaning at least 30% of your system annually so that all lines have been cleaned on a 3-year rotational basis will save a lot of headaches down the road.

7. Perform closed circuit television (CCTV) inspections. After cleaning and jetting, conduct CCTV inspections of the sewer mains to identify leaks or defects in the pipe system.

8. Conduct sump pump inspections. These residential inspections will identify connections to the sewer system. Have an ordinance prohibiting illicit sump pump connections.

9. Perform smoke testing. Smoke testing is a quick and efficient method for detecting storm water connections, roof drain connections, or defective sewer laterals, all of which are contributors to inflow & infiltration (I&I).

10. Conduct wet weather inspections. These can provide valuable information on how precipitation and groundwater conditions affect the flow in your system. Manholes may appear in good condition when it is dry, but they may exhibit leaking joints, missing mortar, and in-flow lid leaks in low-lying areas during wet-weather inspections.

11. Prepare an Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Manual for your sanitary sewer system. An O&M Manual will contain information on your maintenance schedules, identify how to report sanitary sewer overflows, have an emergency contact list, and spell out inspection procedures which can be helpful when training new sewer staff.  It provides invaluable references for both sewer maintenance workers and administrators when it comes time to budget for repairs, rehabs, and rebuilds.

It is time to stop wasting your time “putting out fires” on all the repairs required due to past negligence.  Maintaining a sewer system takes time and commitment, but just like eating right and exercising helps keep a heart healthy, performing sanitary sewer maintenance regularly will greatly improve the health of your sewer system. And we all know preventing a problem saves time and costs less than fixing it after an SSO event happens.

Maximizing Jetter Hose Life

How long will a typical sewer line jetter hose last? That is about as easy to answer as trying to estimate when a jetter’s pump will break down.

A hose is a consumable; it’s not going to last forever. There is no hard-fast rule for how long a hose will last. Hoses are subjected to a harsh environment. Operators often don’t know what they are getting into, and can destroy a hose the first time they put it into a pipe.  On the other hand, there are some simple and relatively inexpensive things you can do to prolong the life of your hose. First and foremost – shield your hose from sharp edges on things like manhole covers, corrugated pipe or broken pipes using a protective sleeve, generally known in the industry as a tiger tail.

Every time you use a hose without a tiger tail, you run the risk of tearing the outer jacket of the hose. Once you get a nick in the outer jacket it reduces the hose’s effectiveness. Tiger tails come in various diameters and lengths. Each one includes a tie-off rope that workers attach to a fixed object near a friction point, like the edge of a broken pipe in the opening of a manhole trough. The tiger tail stays in one place while the jetter hose moves through it, unimpeded by sharp edges. Another useful tool is a manhole roller guide, which also protects the hose from sharp edges as it passes through the manhole opening. Some companies make manhole rollers for use both at street level and down inside the manhole where the hose enters the pipe at the trough.

Regularly cleaning hoses helps extend their life, so operators should wipe down a hose as it is being pulled back to the hose reel. Hoses can come into contact with damaging chemicals and waste gases. You don’t want residue from waste eating away at the hose. Having a clean hose also minimizes odors when storing in a closed space. Also, it is difficult to detect nicks and cuts on a hose that is grimy and dirty.

Another suggestion is for operators to use a leader hose, typically a 10-15 foot long rubber hose that attaches to the front end of the jetting hose at one end and the jetter nozzle at the other end. This hose is also called a sacrificial hose because it takes the brunt of the load as it goes through the pipe. Because it is rubber, a lead hose is more flexible than the thermoplastic-coated jetter hose, so it can make its way through bends in pipes easier. The leader hose is cheaper to replace than the jetter hose and you can afford to have 2-3 extras on hand in case you damage one in the field. Just grab a spare from the shop, unscrew the old one and screw on the new one and you’re up and running again. The leader hose also boosts jobsite safety. When operators see one emerge from the line they know the end of the hose will follow shortly, alerting them to power down the pump.

Finally, another way to increase the life of your hose is to regularly inspect every inch of the hose for nicks and cuts. It is suggested that you perform an inspection at the start or end of a job, or even both. Some supervisors have their crew take the hose completely off the hose reel every week laying it out in the parking lot for a thorough inspection. If a worker finds a defect, they tag it out and the hose gets repaired or replaced. This is very time consuming but may well be the most valuable half-hour that the operators spend each week. There is a lot at stake when a hose goes. The braid on a jetter hose is like a suspension bridge; when the strands starts to break away, eventually the bridge is going to fail.

It is understandable that operators may not want to take the time to inspect their equipment and especially the hose. This inspection can help prevent costly damage and terrible accidents though. Also note that hose repairs can not be done with a hose clamp and duct tape. There is no way that’s going to hold back water at 3,000 psi. Take the time to inspect and be safe.

OMAG has a grant for Sewer Maintenance Equipment. To learn more about this grant go to www.omag.org, click on “free services” then “grants and scholarships” and look for Sewer Maintenance Equipment Grant.

First Recipient of the OMAG Sanitary Sewer Equipment Grant (Lone Wolf)

Congratulations to the Town of Lone Wolf! They are the first municipality to receive OMAG’s new Sanitary Sewer Equipment (SSE) grant.  The grant was used to purchase a refurbished Sewer Equipment Co. of America Model 747 jetter unit. Prior to making use of the SSE grant, Lone Wolf didn’t have a jetter. Now, with the addition of this jetter along with their sewer push camera, Lone Wolf will be able to better identify problem areas and maintain their sewer collection system.

OMAG recognizes there are few if any grant opportunities for the purchase of sanitary sewer equipment. In response, the SSE grant was introduced in July 2020.  The SSE grant is a 1:1 matching funds, post-purchase grant with a maximum benefit of $6,000, and is available to all OMAG plan participants.

If you need more information, contact William Sheppard at wsheppard@omag.org or by calling (800) 234-9461.