Sanitary sewer siphons are the most challenging assets to inspect as they are designed to be continuously full of water, they have little to no redundancy, with typically very high flow volumes.  They are also located deep underground as they are designed to carry wastewater under roadways, channels, and water bodies, so dewatering and cleaning can be difficult.  The construction and operation of inverted siphons will be explained, then an in-depth explanation of the methods that can be used to dewater, bypass, clean, and inspect sanitary sewer siphons will be presented.  Proactive maintenance best practices will be discussed, along with repair alternatives for various defect scenarios that we have typically discovered during siphon inspections.

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain the construction and typical operation of sewer siphons 

2. Explain cleaning methods based on siphon configuration 

3. Explain inspection methods for sewer siphons 

4. Explain repair methods for siphon defects

Speaker: Michelle Beason, Regional Manager at National Plant Services