Posted on 10/15/2026 11:04:46 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Watch how this $9 million robotics project could revolutionize how we survey and protect our sewage systems
In January, a collapsed sewer pipe outside Washington, D.C., spilled more than 240 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River. It is likely the largest sewage spill in U.S. history, but just one of an estimated 75,000 across the country each year, according to the EPA.
As aging sewer networks struggle with growing populations and changing weather patterns, a team of engineers and professors in Europe is developing a robot designed to detect and potentially address problems before disaster strikes.
Watch how the $9 million EU-funded PIPEON project is tackling the dark and perilous world beneath our streets.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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“Only about 1–2% of sewer networks are inspected each year.”
Wow, astonishing number. So 50 - 100 years to inspect all of it. What’s the average life of a sewer pipe? Probably <<100 years.
Equally astonishing is 75,000 sewage spills occur annually in the United States. It’s a wonder we don’t all have e-coli infections.
Wow!
Most of us don't drink raw surface water. I don't recommend trying it. Aside from human sewage spills, it's also potentially contaminated with whatever comes out the back end of everything from moose to mice.
Parts of Rome’s ancient Cloaca Maxima sewer system are still functional and actively used today, more than 2,600 years after construction began.
Ed Norton hardest hit!
Is the robot going to be called the “Sewer RAT” ?*
*(Reconnaissance and Testing)
“actively used today, more than 2,600 years after construction began.”
Yes but they didn’t get proper permits to build it so I’m not using it.
Norton: “We got a sayin’ in the sewer business: It’s ‘Sink or Swim!’
I worked in the Nuclear Power industry for 37 years. That robot would be welcomed with open arms, provided it could be made radiation tolerant.
Even if not there are piping systems in nuclear power plamts that are not radioactive were it could be used.
Euro weenies catching up to 80’s tech. Framing it with AI and robotics to glean some Euro cash.
The DC fiasco was no surprise. The Flynt mess was not tragic or a surprise. The vast majority of pipes do not need an inspection and the ones prone to failure are mostly known. What is lacking is political capital to fund the projects.
If your brakes have 80,000 miles do you need an inspection to know it’s time? Do I need to test my 7 year old car battery to know it’s time to replace?
Someone should explain to the WSJ that San Diego and San Francisco don’t really have a sewer system.
When the winter storms show up, all the mess just flows unfiltered into the ocean.
“”””As aging sewer networks struggle with growing populations and changing weather patterns,””””
How about dealing with the billions of fraud committed against the governmnet?
If the Somalis, as an example, had not defrauded the govt, there would have been more than enough money to upgrade aging sewer networks.
The Romans knew how to build. And they didn't have to worry too much about labor problems.
Tangential to the topic at hand, but I think we need to bring back convict labor.
“As aging sewer networks struggle with growing populations and changing weather patterns. . . “
Sure. That’s the ticket: The sewer’s don’t function properly because of “changing weather patterns”.
Martin, the reporter: Mr. Norton, tell me something. What kind of work do you do?
Ed Norton: Well, I’m employed by the city.
Martin, the reporter: I see. A white collar job?
Ed Norton: No, you could say it’s more of a wet collar job. I’m an underground engineer.
Ralph Kramden: He works in the sewer!
Ed Norton: That’s a layman’s way of putting it.
It wasn't a DC fiasco. It was a Montgomery County, MD fiasco.
Although we do have a consolidated water and sewer system straddling jurisdictions.
DC has plenty of old sewer problems of its own. The top of the heap is the old combined sanitary sewers which, in heavy rainfalls, can top off and flush raw sewage into the rivers. There has been a massive project to clean that up, but it's kinda, sorta expensive to replumb 19th century infrastructure underneath a densely developed 21st century city.
The Anacostia River was much abused historically but has made dramatic progress. The entire length of the river is quite attractive; I recommend the Anacostia River Trail for anyone willing to ditch 30 year old obsolete information. The goal is to make the river swimmable and fishable, although I'm skeptical the 2032 target date is achievable.
The big problem today in the Anacostia is surface runoff from suburban MD: road runoff, litter, lawn chemicals, etc. The simplest way to clean up the Anacostia would be to nuke Montgomery and PG counties. (Maybe we could evacuate them first ....) Turn the MD suburbs into wilderness areas and we'd have the Anacostia fixed.
The problem in DC is much more contained. Except right along the river corridor, all rainfall that doesn't seep into the ground where it fell (which will tend to clean it) will end up in a sewer, so it's already a controlled flow. The current project has been to build some huge underground storage pipes big enough to capture most of the excess surface runoff from intense rain events. The last time I checked, the goal was to reduce average annual combined sanitary sewer discharges by at least 95 percent. I've not checked recently, but we may be close to completion on that. That would put us ahead of most U.S. cities. It's those filthy suburbs that are the main problem, and that's true upstream of DC as well, with uncontrolled runoff, much of it from agricultural sources, from Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
You don’t have to wear a tie or a coat - you just have to know how to float!
Interesting idea. It would certainly lower costs, but would the unions allow it?
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