The State of Our Sewers

In 1736, Benjamin Franklin famously advised fire-threatened Philadelphians that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and that equally applies to KC Water’s Annual Sewer Rehabilitation (ASR) program. It's easier to stop something from happening in the first place than to repair the damage after it’s done. This includes the prevention of problems in Kansas City’s sewer system.

Portions of our 2,800 miles of sewer pipes in Kansas City are 150+ years old and in need of repair. Smart Sewer’s Annual Sewer Rehabilitation program is one of the City’s solutions to fix these aging assets.  

When cracks, leaks, blockages, or other problems appear in sewer pipes, even a small rainstorm can cause diluted wastewater to back up into homes and businesses, or overflow into our creeks, streams, and rivers.

Guiding the Way With Strategic, Data-Driven Sewer Rehabilitation

KC Water’s Smart Sewer program uses data-driven asset management best practices to guide its Annual Sewer Rehabilitation program. Using smart technologies and modern, proven approaches, KC Water is able to assess where a sewer system failure may occur, identify the consequences of such a failure, and then prioritize which assets to inspect, repair, or replace before failure may occur.

The data is gathered annually through inspections and evaluations and added to the City’s systems of records, which consists of geospatial, work order history and condition assessment databases accessible to KC Water staff and engineering consultants. This organized data is input into decision support software, summarized in the graphic below, and informs decisions to repair, inspect or clean sewer assets, helping reduce the risk of failure.

From Concepts to Completion

Kansas City’s Third Amended Consent Decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was finalized on March 3, 2021 after several years of negotiations. This amendment allows KC Water to strike a new balance for more investment in rehabilitating and restoring existing assets while also building new infrastructure to comply with the EPA mandate.

Utilizing a risk-based model, the City can proactively identify the highest risk sewer assets based on their likelihood of failure and the consequence of such a failure before allocating funds to plan and execute repairs where they are needed most. This helps to reduce potential sewer system failures that would require expensive emergency repairs and cause service interruptions.
 

Types of ASR Repairs

An annual investment of $20-25 million, KC Water’s ASR program oversees over 2,800 miles total of sewer assets throughout the sewer system. To help manage infrastructure at this scale, the program is divided into four main asset classes, each of which require unique inspections and repairs. KC Water currently utilizes 10 contracts as well as KC Water wastewater investigation and repair crews to implement the ASR program:

Staff Spotlight: Karine Papikian

KC Water’s Annual Sewer Rehabilitation Program would not get far without the smart people – KC Water’s Collection Systems Engineering Section - behind the smart work. Leading the charge for data-driven sewer system improvements is Karine Papikian. 

Karine started working for KC Water in 1991 as a utility trainee. As she grew with the utility, she worked on earning several certifications, such as E.I.T. and P.E., and worked her way up through the ranks. Karine was promoted to Collection Systems Engineering Section Head in 2017, and is one of the longest standing employees at KC Water.

In Kansas City, the first sewer lined using trenchless technology was in 1995 when the City used cured-in-place pipe (CIPP). In 2005, the first annual sewer rehabilitation program effort was implemented with approximately 1,900 linear feet (less than 1 mile) of sewer rehabilitation at an approximate cost of $193,000. “In fiscal year 2021, KC Water repaired 37 miles — that was our best year to-date. When we first started it was slow, but we kept getting more and more funding,” said Karine. “We are currently budgeting about $15.5 million on lining projects, not including inspections and evaluations.”

Karine’s passion for working as an engineer has grown stronger throughout her career. When she began studying civil engineering at the State School of Professional Civil Engineers in Former Soviet Union, she was quickly put on the wastewater management track that she grew to love.

“I love working for KC Water. I love the combination of planning, investigation, design, and construction. I think I am a very lucky person to have this job,” said Karine.

KC Water’s ASR program has a strong future ahead of it thanks to the countless hours Karine as well as her colleagues have spent on the program. Karine anticipates she will be retiring in the next few years … but the program will continue as part of her legacy.

Thank you to KC Water’s ASR Partners: