FloCis Applications

As the former owner of a utility for 20 years, David J Saylor knows about the problems that come with the ownership of a collection system. Mr. Saylor sought out solutions for the numerous challenges facing his utility company, working with new, and at times unconventional ideas. Our company FloCis was started following some of those difficult decisions.

Several key observations made by Mr. Saylor:

• A utility acquires additions to its existing collection system at nearly no cost but the future ownership responsibility of these assets is enormous.
• Similar to owning a new automobile, in the early life of a collection system, the cost of operation and maintenance is minimal and often not recognized when establishing user rates and fees.
• However, because this asset class deteriorates and will eventually require significant maintenance and rehabilitation, owners of collection systems are typically in "deferred maintenance mode" when operational deficiencies arise.
• When considering relative costs, an existing collection system has a 4 to 10 times greater cost than the investment to construct a wastewater treatment plant or WWTP*.

Other observations that contributed to the development of FloCis:

• As demonstrated in private industry, proactive maintenance has a proven track record over reactive maintenance, but is typically not practiced by owners of utilities. Rather, maintenance is initiated only after the performance of the collection system generates a regulatory violation or customer complaint.
• As a collection system ages, its performance and flow characteristics will change. When observed in a comprehensive and organized manner, these often subtle changes are predictors to future problems. Managing data collected during manhole inspections is a prerequisite for preventative maintenance.
• With respect to managing the growth of groundwater infiltration into older collection systems; it costs much less to rehabilitate the collection system than to treat the storm water at an enlarged treatment plant but only when repairs are site-specific. By contrast, wholesale pipe replacement to address I & I problems is cost prohibitive.

Innovating thinking has been the key element in the methodology behind FloCis, logical principles with creative tools that address the effects of collection system deterioration and excess ground water intrusion into sanitary sewer pipes and manholes.

The new challenge facing sewer utilities is to transition from reactive to preventative maintenance, thus avoiding extraneous unscheduled cleanings, needless investigation work and unnecessary repairs. The FloCis process identifies specific sites in need of maintenance and provides predictive tools for scheduling future maintenance or rehabilitation work. However, just cleaning sanitary pipes is often not sufficient. Faced with excess wet weather flows, restoring conveyance capacity often stops short of a comprehensive program. Preventative maintenance and I & I abatement are best served by an ongoing project. FloCis tools and methods work together to isolate areas that contribute ground water, which in turn allow rehabilitation work to be site specific and therefore more affordable.