Problems With The Present System:

Workers manually do the checking, by entering into manholes. They find it difficult to carry anything that they can record their observations on. They have to come outside and fill up forms, which are then passed on to repair crews. There is no way that a supervisor can be sure that a worker has done his job. There is no record of him having entered the sewer. There is just a paper record that the worker himself creates. The sewer being not exactly a pleasant place to enter, makes it even more likely that the worker may not actually enter a sewer but only make a dummy paper record of entry. There is no record of him having entered the sewer. There is just a paper record that the worker himself creates. The sewer being not exactly a pleasant place to enter, makes it even more likely that the worker may not actually enter a sewer but only make a dummy paper record of entry.

Advantages Of RFID Solution:

The experience of municipal organizations that have implemented this system has been positive. To summarize the RFID system implementation has resulted in the sewer inspection system becoming very efficient. There are also now fewer chances of misreporting a faulty pipe (by way of recording the wrong number). It also frees the workers from juggling sheaves of papers while doing their work, leading to more time available for the “real work” of cleaning the sewer rather than spending time on creating records.

RFID Solution Of Underground Sewers:

RFID active tags can be embedded inside the sewer pipes at particular locations. The sewer workers enter the pipes and do their inspection. Their observations are recorded by them by means of a small handheld RFID reader (which also has writing capability).The observations can be formatted in simple Yes/No forms. The form data is then downloaded into the tag by the RFID reader.Thus the observations are available at site, inside the sewer or pipe.
The worker then emails or sends these observations wirelessly to the necessary office to take action or to merely record the good state of the pipes. Now if any supervisor or higher level authority wants to cross check the inspections, they can carry their own readers and interrogate the tags inside the sewers, to know whether the workmen had actually visited the location.

Future Scenarios Of Underground Sewers:

This system is likely to be adopted by many other city & local government authorities as an effective way to monitor their sewer systems.