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Sewer Flow Monitoring

Temporary and permanent flow monitoring for councils and water authorities, installed by trained crews Australia wide.

Start an enquiry Try the flow lab

At a glance

  • Detectronic MSFM metersArea velocity, intrinsically safe, ATEX and IECEx
  • Temporary or permanentFrom short I&I studies to long term master planning
  • Rain gauges alongsideRIMCO 7499 gauges show how rain affects the network
  • Full access to your dataOn our platform, or by API into your own systems

Good decisions about a sewer network start with good data from inside it. EDS has been putting flow meters into Australian sewers for more than three decades.

We work for councils and water authorities who need to know what their network is really doing: we bring the instruments, the crews and the data platform, and we stay until the data has answered your question. Our own trained crews install and look after every site, Australia wide, safely and to the standard the data depends on, and you get full access to your data, not just a report at the end.

An area velocity flow meter on a mounting band at the invert of a sewer, seen from the manhole above, with wastewater flowing over it
An area velocity flow meter at the invert of a sewer, measuring depth and velocity in the flow.

Why choose EDS

Australia’s largest supplier of water and wastewater monitoring equipment, with our own crews and data platform, and more than three decades in Australian sewers.

Instruments built for the sewerOur fleet runs on the latest Detectronic MSFM area velocity flow meters, intrinsically safe and certified under ATEX and IECEx. The MSFM S2.5T measures velocity from 0.03 to 4 m/s and depth to 3.5 m.
Crews who do this every dayOur field crews are trained in installation, maintenance and calibration and work from four offices, so every meter goes in right the first time.
Programs of any lengthFrom a short inflow and infiltration study to years of monitoring that feeds your sewer master plan.
Sensors for every chamberIncluding the LIDoTT level sensor, accurate to ± 2 mm, which switches automatically to pressure, to 10 m, when the chamber surcharges.
With you past the installWe stay with you through data collection and interpretation, not just the day the meter goes in.

Results from the field

$6M treatment plant expansion avoided

Twenty short term flow meters and on-site rain gauges showed three subcatchments carried 65% of the I&I. Capital went into relining and inflow reduction instead, and peak wet weather flows fell 35% within two years.

Regional council
34 sites installed and operated in 12 weeks

Sewer monitoring across the Wulguru and Pallarenda catchments, to inform the council’s infrastructure planning and management.

Townsville City Council

4 more results from EDS programs

  • 24 huntil flows were back at baseline after relining
  • 15sites of sewer flow and rainfall monitoring in eight weeks
  • 40%less variation in depth and flow during rain
  • 30%less spent on unnecessary relining
All results

What is included

  • Temporary and permanent flow monitoring

    For I&I studies, model calibration and compliance reporting.

  • Analysis and reporting

    Reports that are easy to read and act on, for planning and regulatory compliance.

  • Sites chosen properly

    Hydraulic site selection and careful installation, because accurate data starts with the right spot in the pipe.

  • Rainfall alongside

    RIMCO 7499 tipping bucket rain gauges in the catchment show how each storm moves through the network.

  • Data where you want it

    Readings arrive in EDS FlowSense as they are taken, or by API into the systems you already run.

Applications

  • Calibrating your sewer model for long term planning
  • Finding the sources of inflow and infiltration, and cutting treatment costs
  • Assessing capacity before you expand
  • Meeting environmental regulations
  • Catching blockages and failures early

Common questions

How long does a flow monitoring program run?

It depends on what the data has to answer. Short term studies for inflow and infiltration typically run for 6 to 12 weeks, long enough to capture the network’s response to wet weather. Long term monitoring runs across seasons, showing baseline infiltration as groundwater rises and falls through the year, and measuring the effect of past works.

How often are readings logged?

Typically every 1 to 5 minutes. High resolution logging captures storm peaks accurately and shows the daily pattern of dry weather flow that analysis and modelling depend on.

Is the equipment safe to install in a live sewer?

Yes. The Detectronic MSFM area velocity flow meters in our fleet are intrinsically safe and certified under ATEX and IECEx, and every installation is carried out by trained EDS crews.

Do we get the raw data, or only a report?

Both. Unlike many providers, EDS gives you full access to the data, through EDS FlowSense or by API into your own systems, alongside the reports.

Is rainfall measured as well?

Yes. RIMCO 7499 tipping bucket rain gauges are installed in the catchment alongside the flow meters, so the network’s wet weather response can be read against the rain that caused it.

Do we have to buy the equipment?

No. You can buy the instruments, hire them from the EDS fleet, or take monitoring as Data as a Service with no capital outlay, where EDS selects the sites, installs and maintains the equipment and delivers validated data.

How a program runs

From the first call to data you can act on.

  1. 01

    Scope and site selection

    Agree what the data has to answer, then choose sites by their hydraulics, not their convenience.

  2. 02

    Install and commission

    Trained EDS crews install intrinsically safe instruments, Australia wide, and check every site before it goes live.

  3. 03

    Monitor and validate

    Readings arrive over 4G into FlowSense, with continuous QA/QC and alarms when something changes.

  4. 04

    Report and recommend

    Validated data and a report that shows where the problems are and what to fix first, or a feed into your model by API.

What the flow meter sees in a storm.

Send a storm through a model catchment and watch the hydrograph respond. The gap between measured flow and the dry weather pattern is inflow and infiltration: water that should never have reached the sewer.

Sewer hydrograph
Raining 0 mm/h
Measured flowDry weather patternInflow & infiltrationRainfall

Tap or point at the chart to read values, or focus it and press ← →

At the flow meter
High High-high

600 mm pipe. Area velocity meter at the invert; dashed lines are the alarm levels.

0Flow L/s
0Depth mm
0Velocity m/s
+0.0I&I L/s
NormalFlow is tracking the dry weather pattern.
0 kL above dry weather flowExtra volume in the last 30 hours: the cost of I&I.

An illustrative model of a 600 mm sewer, not live data. Flow is wetted area multiplied by velocity, the way an area velocity flow meter measures it.

Talk to the people who measure it.

Tell us about your network, site or project. A real person from our team will come back to you.

Start an enquiry 1300 721 683