Pipebots for Rising Mains – Technology Development Phase 2 

 Pipebots for Rising Mains – Technology Development Phase 2

Amount awarded: £1,656,229

Led by: Thames Water

Partners: Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, Synthotech Ltd, Thames Water, University of Sheffield, Wessex Water 

Pipebots for Rising Mains Phase 2 builds on work successfully completed through previous rounds of the Water Breakthrough Challenge. The project will develop technology for condition assessment inspections in live sewer rising mains to enable rehabilitation works to be planned and prioritised, reducing the risk of failure leading to pollution.

“Reducing pollution from Rising Main Bursts is a priority. This exciting development in robotics and new sensor technology brings us closer to being proactive, preventing pollution, flooding and customer disruption.” – Nevil Muncaster, Engineering & Asset Director, Thames Water

This initiative builds on the Breakthrough 2 project, Pipebots for Rising Mains.

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Update from the project (January 2025)

The Winner’s Agreement was signed and the project publicly announced as a winner at the end of May 2024. This Phase 2 project follows a previously completed OFWAT Catalyst Project, namely Pipebots for Rising Mains Research & Feasibility Study. The partners and project team have remained the same, so good continuity will be maintained through the project. A kickoff meeting was held in July, although detailed project work did not really begin until September. As such, the effective project start was shifted from July to September. Governance arrangements, team members and roles were clarified and the Steering Group and Technical Working Group meetings scheduled. The draft Collaboration Agreement was sent out to all the partners in August 24. Minor changes to the agreement have been required since, so the final version will now hopefully be signed in January. 

In October, a hybrid project Workshop session was held at Synthotech’s offices at Harrogate, with team members meeting face to face and online. This was a valuable session for WaSC partners to provide details of their rising main assets and the needs and challenges for inspection. Outputs from the workshop have fed into the Baseline Technical Requirements document compiled by Synthotech. In addition, Synthotech have also prepared questionnaires for the partners to complete regarding current rising main operations and asset data. Feedback from these documents will help define the form of the inspection system for development going forward. Site visits to pumping stations and rising main sites have been undertaken by Synthotech within the Thames and Wessex Water networks. The project is progressing very well with the first deliverable D1. due at the end of December, namely the Optimisation & Operation Process Report. This will outline the concepts for the inspection system for the next stages of development and testing. 

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Resources:

For more information on Pipebots for Rising Mains, take a look at the following resources:

• This project was featured in the Rethinking wastewater systems Learning Report