By upgrading the system-wide data management infrastructure and using that data to make informed, strategic decisions about how and when to execute sewer repairs, the Smart Sewer program is reducing the amount of rainwater getting into our combined sewer system and separate sanitary sewer systems and increasing their reliability. To make our sewer systems operate as efficiently as possible, the Smart Sewer program is using a variety of solutions, including:

• Combined Sewer System improvements
  • Sewer rehabilitation
  • Diversion structures and sewer consolidation
  • Green infrastructure
  • Targeted combined sewer separation
  • New relief sewers
  • Open basin and in-line storage facilities with real-time controls
  • Pumping station upgrades and forcemain improvements
  • Wastewater treatment plant capacity expansions
• Separate Sewer System improvements
  • Strategic inflow and infiltration reduction
  • Pumping station upgrades and forcemain improvements
  • Wastewater treatment plant capacity expansions

These solutions help reduce the annual volume of wet weather overflows and increase system reliability for generations to come.

We are building a data-driven system that monitors flow characteristics to better manage the movement of wastewater throughout the city’s combined and separate sewer systems. When feasible, our smart investments include green infrastructure solutions that manage stormwater the way nature intended by capturing and utilizing rainwater where it falls — keeping rain out of our sanitary sewer systems and contaminants out of our creeks, streams, and rivers.

Because the Smart Sewer program is a multi-decade effort, our team applies adaptive management principles to continuously improve our plans for future infrastructure investments and identify the most cost-effective overflow control solutions to optimize systemwide performance and maximize community benefits.

KC Water has changed the City’s approach to maintaining its sanitary sewer systems. In the past, fixes were driven by two largely reactive factors: customer complaints and sewer service interruptions. When they occurred, inspections were completed and repairs were made. This approach did not analyze the system as a whole in order to effectively prioritize rehabilitation projects. 

Today, KC Water’s Smart Sewer program uses a data-driven asset management program to guide the rehabilitation process. Using system characterization and historical condition assessment data, we can better identify where a system failure may arise, identify the consequences of such a failure, and then prioritize which assets to inspect, repair, or replace first. Data is stored in a reference library that can be accessed for years to come, helping reduce the need for additional investigations or assets being identified for repair more than once.

KC Water continues to expand its sewer asset data management library, and the Third Amended Consent Decree allows KC Water to prioritize investments in existing sewer system assets. This “risk-based model” allows Kansas City to proactively allocate funds and plan repairs where they are needed the most, while helping to reduce potential sewer system failures that would need to be repaired on an emergency basis.

KC Water’s Smart Sewer program uses a combination of technologies to assess the condition and optimize the performance of our sewer systems, to cost-effectively rehabilitate our existing sewer assets for continued reliable service to our customers, and to drive strategic, data-driven decision-making to effectively plan future system investments.

Most Kansas City residents use smart phones to access information to make decisions. This is the concept behind the “smart’ in Smart Sewer. We gather real-time information, analyze it, and make it easier for KC Water to use it to make decisions about the operation and maintenance of the City’s sewer system. And, just like a smart phone has apps, the Smart Sewer program uses automated computer software programs and applications to take the place of paper files and antiquated processes. Data comes from:

• Smart devices such as sensors, flow meters, and rain gauges
• Smart tools such as computer software programs and applications to collect and analyze data, model system performance, and optimize overflow control measure costs
• Smart people with expertise in design, construction, operation, and maintenance of our sewer systems

This approach enables our team to proactively identify problems, predict performance, and measure the results of our projects.

Sewer Separation and Inflow & Infiltration Reduction

Kansas City has two kinds of sewer systems: combined and separate. Each can be a source of pollution.

• 

  In the combined sanitary system, stormwater and wastewater are collected in the same pipe and routed to a wastewater treatment plant. During heavy rainstorms or when snow melts, some of the wastewater may overflow and go directly to streams and rivers. Smart Sewer is separating portions of the combined sewer system in specific areas where it is cost effective to reduce overflows.

• In the separate system, rainwater and wastewater flow through completely separate pipe systems, one carrying wastewater to a treatment plant and the other taking stormwater to waterways.

However, leaky pipe joints, broken pipes, broken manholes, and illicit pipe connections can lead to infiltration and inflow of rainwater into the wastewater system, overwhelming capacity and causing sewer overflows and backups. Smart Sewer identifies places where stormwater enters the wastewater system and takes steps to correct, repair, rehabilitate or replace sewer systems. Click here to view projects.

Neighborhood Sewer Rehabilitation

Cracked and broken sewer pipes in the combined sewer system that are 12-inches in diameter and smaller are being rehabilitated to restore their flow capacity and reduce the potential of sewer backups. Click here to view projects.

Diversion Structure & Sewer Consolidation

As part of KC Water’s Smart Sewer program, diversion structures and sewers in the combined sewer system are being consolidated to reduce the number of places where wastewater is discharged into local streams. Consolidation projects typically result in fewer overflows during smaller rain events. Click here to view projects.

Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure helps our community manage stormwater the way nature intended by capturing and utilizing rainwater where it falls. Green infrastructure can take many forms, depending on its location, and can be as large as a community park or as small as a rain garden. Its use in the Smart Sewer program is to reduce the amount of stormwater entering the combined sewer system.

It also can improve water quality and reduce flooding, pollution, and trash in our creeks, streams, and rivers. Green infrastructure mimics how nature handles rainwater, increasing infiltration, evaporation, and transpiration in plants, and slowing runoff before entering the combined sewer system. It also replenishes groundwater and sustains plants, trees, and natural habitats while working with gray infrastructure to increase the capacity of our underground pipes. Green infrastructure also helps to filter pollutants from rainwater runoff before it is discharged into our streams and rivers, thereby improving their water quality.

KC Water’s Smart Sewer program is installing a variety of green infrastructure installations in targeted areas throughout the City. Learn more about green infrastructure in Kansas City or click here to view projects.

Pumping, Storage, and Conveyance

KC Water’s Smart Sewer program is working on pumping and conveyance projects throughout our sewer systems to increase the amount of flow that can be conveyed to one of the City’s six wastewater treatment plants for treatment. These projects consist of pump station upgrades to increase capacity and reliability, as well as force main and relief sewer improvements to enable more flow to our wastewater treatment plants and reduce the volume of sewer overflows. Underground storage and conveyance pipes, above-ground storage tanks, open storage basins, and in-line storage facilities allow water to be held for a time and then released into the system once a storm passes and sewer flows recede. Click here to view projects.

Keeping Kansas City’s Environmental Commitment

Protecting public health and the environment is the primary driver of the Smart Sewer program and will continue to be our mission. Achieving this mission means continuing to deliver projects on time and on budget to meet the City’s obligations of the Consent Decree, including the implementation of green infrastructure improvements to effectively manage stormwater from at least 480 acres of impervious surface in the combined sewer system (also known as green acres).

As part of our environmental commitment, we will continue to implement green infrastructure when possible to leverage the many community benefits green solutions provide. KC Water will also continue to be a sustainability leader among water utilities by using Envision to promote sustainable infrastructure. 

Envision provides a framework for assessing sustainability and resilience in infrastructure. In 2014, Kansas City passed an ordinance supporting the incorporation of sustainable principles outlined in Envision on all City projects, which KC Water achieves by following its Sustainability Playbook for water projects. Envision sets the standard for what is considered sustainable when designing and building infrastructure projects and encourages communities and developers to go beyond the minimum sustainability requirements.

In 2016, Kansas City’s Middle Blue River Green Infrastructure project and the KC Streetcar project were the first two City projects to receive a verification award through Envision. The Middle Blue River Green Infrastructure project is just one example of a growing number of green infrastructure projects in Kansas City.

Green Infrastructure is a smart solution that helps our community manage stormwater the way nature intended by capturing and utilizing rainwater where it falls. KC Water is committed to looking for opportunities to cost effectively increase the use of green infrastructure in lieu of gray infrastructure wherever we can.

Through advances in stormwater technology, we are utilizing “real-time” controllers that monitor and control a device such as a valve or gate to manage wastewater or stormwater conveyance as well as extending and enhancing the life of our gray infrastructure, like pipes and other manmade constructed assets. Over the past 10 years, we started something new and sustainable in Kansas City through green infrastructure, and we plan to build on that success.

Using Data to Drive Decision Making

Asset data management will continue to drive our sewer rehabilitation project selection on an annual basis to ensure we provide reliable service to our utility customers. Through field investigations, system flow monitoring, and collection system hydraulic modeling, we identify segments of the sewer system that are most vulnerable to failure. Fixing or replacing these vulnerable segments of the system has been — and will continue to be — a priority of the Smart Sewer program.

We’re also not finished making our system more intelligent. Kansas City is on the cutting edge of many sewer-performance monitoring and rehabilitation technologies and will continue to be a leading water utility when it comes to analyzing and implementing the next generation of technology solutions.