Written by: Eva Schwendimann & Mike Rivera, Southwest Environmental Finance Center (SW EFC)
In this episode, Eva Schwendimann from the SW EFC discusses the basics of sewer smoke testing in sanitary sewer systems with Mike Rivera. Mike is a Water and Wastewater Utility Specialist at the SW EFC and has a background of working with Water and Wastewater in New Mexico systems for over 20 years. This episode walks listeners through why and how a smoke test is conducted, the equipment needed, best case weather conditions for testing, and how to collect and manage data from a smoke test.
Episode Chapters:
- Podcast Intro – 0:00:00
- Mike’s experience with smoke testing – 0:01:22
- Summary of smoke test procedure – 0:04:25
- What can a smoke test detect? – 0:05:02
- What is Infiltration and Inflow? – 0:05:22
- Equipment needed – 0:08:32
- Step by step procedure – 0:09:38
- How effective is smoke testing?- 0:12:18
- Best weather conditions – 0:13:14
- How to collect and manage data – 0:14:08
- Podcast Outro – 0:18:57
Links to additional resources:
NPDES: Stormwater Best Management Practice, Preventing Stormwater Contamination from Sanitary Sewage
EFCN Blog | The Impacts of Changing Precipitation Patterns on Wastewater and Stormwater Systems