Manholes are a critical part of every sewer system as they provide necessary ventilation and an access point for cleaning and inspecting sewer lines. The EPA estimates that there are about 20 million manholes in the United States — one manhole for every 400 feet of pavement. Many of these manholes are seriously decayed or in need of immediate rehabilitation or replacement.

Manholes generate a disproportionate amount of inflow and infiltration and play a unique role in the structural integrity of roadways. From an operational standpoint, I&I of groundwater reduces capacity of the collection system as a whole. From a structural standpoint, deterioration and corrosion within a manhole can cause cave-ins.

Traditionally, technology to inspect manholes has lagged behind the rest of the industry. Now, sewer inspection technology is finally catching up to help us address manhole deterioration. Manhole inspection cameras such as Envirosight’s CleverScan can help municipalities and municipal contractors tackle manhole inspection. CleverScan’s compact, lightweight design travels anywhere and deploys in minutes. It captures visual and dimensional data and presents the user with three powerful deliverables:

• A flat scan with detailed image data covering every inch of the manhole wall
• A dense point cloud for 3-D visualization of the manhole structure and easy CAD integration
• A virtual view inside the manhole, where an operator can pan, tilt and zoom to areas of interest

Deliverables such as these provide inspections crews with all the information they need to make a proper assessment of the manhole. With this level of detail, municipalities and municipal contractors can quickly pinpoint areas of deterioration and corrosion leading to I&I and accurately determine a rehabilitation strategy. 

Request an in-field demo of the CleverScan Manhole Scanning System