Chennai Metrowater pilots robotic cleaning in sewage pumping stations to boost efficiency and workers’ safety

After deploying robots to clean sewer lines in some city zones, Chennai Metrowater is now piloting the use of robotic technology in sewage pumping stations in Thiruvanmiyur. The initiative aims to enhance operational safety and efficiency by minimising manual intervention.

The water agency has already added Bandicoot Mobility, a robot that cleans maintenance holes of the sewer network, to remove clogged waste in sewer lines in zone 6 (Thiru.Vi.Ka.Nagar), 9 (Teynampet) and 13 (Adyar).

With robotic devices, which were developed by Genrobotics, a Kerala-based startup, helping to reduce clogging of lines for a year now, the water agency is exploring other innovative technologies to improve maintenance of sewer infrastructure.

Officials of the Metrowater said an advanced robot with remote control unit and cameras, Wilboar, is being used to clean the sewage wells in Thiruvanmiyur sewage pumping station on a pilot basis. The robotic unit developed by Genrobotics is lowered into the wells that have a depth of up to 10 metre to remove the silt. With high-pressure water jets and grinders, the device grinds accumulated sludge into finer particles and clears them.

This would eliminate the challenges in the use of conventional processes, improve efficiency of cleaning sewer wells and reduce complaints of sewage overflow in the pipelines.

The Thiruvanmiyur sewage pumping station has a capacity to handle 15 million litres of sewage a day. Such robotic devices are already in use at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh and Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, said officials.

There are 375 sewage pumping stations in the city. Such robotic devices would be deployed in sewer well cleaning operations in other pumping stations following the success of the trial implementation.

G.Beem Rao, president, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board Labourers Union, said it was a welcome initiative to ensure workers’ safety and reduce manual intervention. Such efforts must be expanded to densely populated urban spaces and monitored for regular maintenance. Workers hired for sewer network maintenance should be redeployed to other roles.

Nearly 2,850 labourers have been hired for sewer and water network maintenance in Chennai.