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Raytown expands sewer monitoring and modeling to reduce backups and target repairs
Summary
Raytown's public works and consultant NEAR Technologies outlined expanded flow-sensor deployment, hydraulic modeling and a citywide stormwater model to identify inflow-and-infiltration, prioritize pipe lining and aim to reduce basement backups and treatment costs.
Raytown public-works officials and consultant NEAR Technologies told the Board of Aldermen on March 4 that the city is expanding its monitoring and hydraulic modeling of sanitary sewers and stormwater to locate bottlenecks, reduce backups and better target capital work.
"We installed sensors that measure every five minutes so we can understand how much flow you are actually getting collected," said Elango of NEAR Technologies during a study session presentation. He described flow sensors placed at major outlets in 2022, additional rain gauges and ongoing work to develop a hydraulic "digital twin" of the underground system.
City staff said the work supports a multi-year capital improvement program led by GBA Engineering and helps justify lining or rehabilitation projects before a catastrophic failure. Officials noted the approach pairs CCTV inspection, flow-meter data and modeling to estimate how much extra volume enters the sewer system per inch of rainfall and to measure whether projects reduce inflow-and-infiltration (I&I).
The presentation explained several technical elements: pre- and post-project comparisons using sensors, scatter-plot analysis of depth versus velocity to locate capacity problems, and a 2D stormwater model the city used to map areas that could reach multiple feet of flooding in design storms. An on-site equalization basin at 80th and Seventh Street was cited as providing about 6,000,000 gallons of storage to help manage peak flows.
"The sensors definitely help us with the data that support those types of projects," Rob Camp, Raytown Public Works, said in response to aldermanic questions. Staff told the council they plan to add more interior sensors to increase resolution inside neighborhoods and to continue using the outlet sites installed in 2022.
In answering questions about scope and funding, staff tied the data work into the city's GO-bond planning and the CIP. Speakers noted that the city has been studying the system since 2022 and that measured backups have declined as projects proceeded. "When I first started here, we were having about 8 or 10 backups per month," one staff member said; "within the last year, we've kind of narrowed it down to maybe 1 or 2 a year."
During council discussion, aldermen sought clarification about the relationship between sanitary sewers and stormwater. NEAR and staff emphasized the sensors described for I&I were installed in the sanitary system; stormwater modeling was used to identify flooding locations that might or might not be linked to sewer-system backups.
Council members also asked about the GO-bond approved by voters. A council member stated the bond authorization was for $7,200,000; staff explained that borrowing and repayment terms will be determined when specific projects and bond issuance steps are presented.
Staff described planned sensor deployments as "11 radar depth sensors and 5 ultrasonic sensors" and said they would retain the previously installed seven outlet sites; staff described the resulting program as a roughly 20-site network for improved monitoring. The transcript contains staff's characterization of the final site count rather than an explicit arithmetic reconciliation.
What happens next: staff said design work for identified projects is underway and that project-level bonding and scheduling will be brought back for council action later this year.
