NEWS

Infiltration Water Detection Successfully Completed in Bergisch Gladbach

With the successful completion of a further project across several measuring sections in the Schlebuscher Straße area for the detection of infiltration water in mid-2024, the city of Bergisch Gladbach has gained significant insights into wastewater management. As early as 2019, the city conducted a pilot project in which the innovative fiber optic technology for precise detection of infiltration water was tested for the first time (source on the 2019 pilot project). Due to the promising results, the city officially launched a call for tenders in 2022 for the implementation of Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) to locate infiltration water under the project VE33 (details on the tender, additional tender information).

OSSCAD secured Lot 2 and successfully deployed the Optical Radar System (ORS) in the Schlebuscher Straße area. This modern measuring technology allows continuous temperature monitoring along the sewer network. Different temperatures in wastewater – e.g. caused by colder inflows such as groundwater or rainwater – can be precisely detected with the ORS, enabling quick and pinpoint identification of infiltration water sources (information on OSSCAD’s ORS technology).

Through the analysis of this data, Bergisch Gladbach was able to precisely locate illegal Inflows and Infiltrations (I&I) and is now poised to take further steps to reduce the overload of treatment plants and pumping stations while achieving sustainable cost savings. This project demonstrates how collaboration between municipalities and technology providers can contribute to long-term ecological and economic improvements in urban infrastructure.

If your municipality faces similar challenges in wastewater management, feel free to contact us! We are happy to help!