HIGHLIGHTS:
- The City of Fishers, IN Water Quality team utilizes ClearObject’s patent pending AI system, ClearVision, to increase efficiency, save money, and reduce potential human error in inspections of wastewater pipes.
- ClearVision has enabled Fishers to cut video review and coding time by more than 50%, reducing inspection and QA costs by nearly 1/3.
- The City of Fishers has processed over 617 inspections using ClearVision.
FISHERS, IN – The City of Fishers, IN is leading the way in infrastructure management and supporting local innovation with ClearVision—an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system created by Fishers-based tech leader ClearObject—to address the challenges of assessing wastewater utility infrastructure. This approach will speed up the assessment process, cut costs, increase safety, and ensure accurate and consistent wastewater inspections.
“We are excited to collaborate with a leader in AI [ClearObject] to use modern technology to solve an issue that is experienced by many cities across America,” said Fishers’ Mayor Scott Fadness. “This partnership showcases the spirit of innovation that makes our community so unique as we strive to build a smart city.”
“While many municipalities like to use the term ‘Smart Cities’, Fishers is making real investments in innovative technology that will make a difference for residents and ratepayers. Their approach to using AI for sewer inspections is revolutionary and responsible. This technology can inspect 132,000 linear feet of wastewater pipeline in just 8 hours whereas conventional inspections can take over 90 days. ” said Justin Starr, Senior Wastewater Advisor at ClearObject.
STRONGER DATA
Traditionally, wastewater inspectors have manually reviewed infrastructure, requiring a skilled, on-site technician to operate a camera to capture, evaluate, and manually label the conditions of wastewater pipes. With the implementation of ClearVision, videos can be automatically uploaded to the cloud, allowing the ClearVision platform to use AI-assist to vast speed up and improve the accuracy and consistency of identifying issues and providing an output of damage, roots, cleaning needs, etc. This allows for faster, more complete examinations and stronger data regarding the quality of the restructure. By incorporating the inspection team’s notes alongside AI outputs, the City of Fishers can compile more consistent, complete data to assess infrastructure failures with increased precision and timeliness.
The City of Fishers has processed over 617 inspections using ClearVision. The technology allows the City’s Water Quality team to group results by structural defects, inflow/infiltration, root intrusion, debris build-up, and more, and use the data to better prioritize repairs and drive capital projects. It also allows them to sort by project, which makes it easier to calculate the frequency of inspections and total footage of pipe inspected in a given area.
“This innovative partnership with Clear Object has given our team unparalleled access to data that we simply didn’t have before,” said Jonathan Valenta, Director of Water Quality at the City of Fishers. “I have seen firsthand the transformative benefits of utilizing ClearVision on inspections of storm and wastewater pipelines. Not only do they provide us with a comprehensive and detailed view of the pipelines, but they also allow us to identify and address potential issues before they become major problems. This not only saves time and resources, but it also ensures that our city’s infrastructure is operating at peak efficiency, ultimately benefiting our community’s health and wellbeing.”
Current facts about wastewater infrastructure in the US:
- 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and stormwater are illegally discharged per year.
- 92% of major wastewater agencies in the US are subject to EPA consent decrees.
- Proof of value assessments based on 6-month inspection periods for a city agency has demonstrated an annual return on investment of over $600K per year.
- “The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $550 billion in new spending. For water infrastructure, it carries $48.4 billion over five years for drinking water and wastewater spending at the U.S. EPA, including: $11.713 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF). Nov 12, 2021”
- The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law delivers more than $50 billion to EPA to improve our nation’s drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure – the single largest investment in water that the federal government has ever made.
“ClearObject is excited to be partnering with the City of Fishers on ClearVision. We are excited to work with forward-leaning cities like Fishers. This city is truly a fantastic place of innovation and we are happy, as corporate citizens, to bring this technology back home,” said ClearVision Head of Product Derek Bleyle.
“ClearOject is a leader in bringing industry-specific Machine Vision into production. We have deployed this for Wind Turbine Inspections, for QA, and Step Changes in Process Improvement in Manufacturing (with 10x ROI), and we’re excited to bring this to the water industry now as well.”
REDUCING HUMAN ERROR
America’s wastewater infrastructure is rapidly aging with cracks and damages occurring more frequently than ever due to deferred maintenance, human error, and construction. In 2019, the American Water Works Association released a report stating that 38% of wastewater pipeline maintenance was a reactive measure. Even when proactive maintenance is attempted, human error can overlook significant points of damage leading to extended downtime, higher costs, and environmental impacts. Reducing reactive maintenance through ClearVision will reduce unforeseen costs in broken pipelines.
About the City of Fishers:
The City of Fishers is a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana, located in Hamilton County, and is consistently nationally ranked as a top place to live. Under the leadership of Mayor Scott Fadness, Fishers is known as a smart, vibrant, and entrepreneurial city through its neighborhood development, dedication to supporting high-growth companies, and innovative city processes. With a population of 101,171 (2021, US Census Bureau), Fishers is one of the fastest-growing communities in Indiana and has received national accolades for entrepreneurship, livability, and safety.
