The cost of I&I
One basin. $1.7M in savings.
Multiplied across thousands of basins.
When you do the math at the per-foot level, traditional SSES looks like an expense report from another era. Here's what that comparison actually looks like — and where the savings come from.
Per-foot reality
$29–$118 per foot vs. $1.32 per foot.
Traditional SSES bills out as if every pipe needs equal attention. It doesn't. Smart Sewers finds the few that do — and only deploys the heavier tools where the data points.
Method
Per Linear Foot
17,000 LF Basin
Time to Result
Traditional SSES
Full basin · CCTV everywhere
$29 – $118PER FOOT
$500K – $2MPER BASIN
6–12 moMULTIPLE STORMS
Smart Sewers — Micro Detection
iTracker sensors only
$1.32PER FOOT
$22,44017,000 LF BASIN
1 storm~7 DAYS
Smart Sewers — Full Program
Sensors + CCTV + smoke + modeling
$5 – $15PER FOOT
$85K – $255K17,000 LF BASIN
4–8 wkTARGETED
Savings vs. Traditional
up to 96%
~$1.7M
10× faster
Sample basin · 17,000 LF
$500K – $2M of guesswork. Or $170K of clarity.
Traditional (mid-range)$1,250,000
Smart Sewers Full Program$170,000
Avoided spend$1,080,000
What you stop paying for
The savings aren't from cutting corners.
They're from cutting noise.
Smart Sewers isn't a cheaper version of traditional SSES. It's a different approach — one that pays for the work that finds answers and skips the work that doesn't.
01
Inspecting pipes that aren't the problem
Traditional SSES CCTV's 100% of the system to find the 20% that matters. Smart Sewers uses sensor data to point CCTV crews where defects actually drive overflows.
↓ 60–80%CCTV SCOPE
02
Long-running flow meter studies
Traditional flow meters cost $25K–$75K per site, per year. Smart Sewers deploys dense sensor networks at a fraction of the cost — and gets you answers in one rain event, not eight.
↓ 70–90%MONITORING COST
03
Plant expansion driven by I&I, not growth
The single largest hidden cost. A $50M+ plant expansion built on bad capacity assumptions is debt the community pays for 30 years. Smart Sewers separates real growth from I&I before the bond is sized.
↓ $50M+CAPITAL AVOIDED
04
Repeating the same study every 5–10 years
Traditional SSES is a snapshot. The system changes; the snapshot ages. Smart Sewers is continuous — once it's running, you don't pay for the same study again. You just keep watching.
↓ recurringSTUDY CYCLE
05
EPA fines and consent decree exposure
Federal civil penalties up to $66,712/day per violation. Smart Sewers gives you the defensible documentation regulators look for — and the early warning to prevent the next event.
↓ exposureREGULATORY RISK
Run the math on your own basin