Kallipr partner with Sydney Water in Australia’s first hyper-scale sewer monitoring IoT deployment

Australian IoT specialists Kallipr have partnered with Sydney Water to digitise their sewers in the first hyper-scale IoT deployment outside of water meter monitoring in Australia.  The agreement will see Sydney Water install over 15,000 Captis by Kallipr IoT devices across sewer and wastewater infrastructure over the next 16 months.   

The installation of the Captis IoT devices will allow Sydney Water to build on their highly successful wastewater management project that drives the digitisation of their existing sewer networks and allows for proactive management of blockage events within the wastewater infrastructure.   

The Captis devices are IoT data loggers attached to sensors that are installed on existing sewer infrastructure and pass back data readings on a frequent basis. These data readings are pre-configured to trigger an alarm when certain thresholds are met indicating a potential blockage. These alarms allow Sydney Water to act on the issue prior to a wastewater overflow occurring.  

Sydney Water required the chosen IoT devices to work reliably in the very challenging environment of a sewer access chamber, and have significant communication network, protocols and security in place.  

The Captis devices are IP68 rated and can withstand high humidity and water immersion, and the 5+ year battery life reduces the need for maintenance and site visits significantly. By operating on the NB-IoT network the Captis devices can reliably and securely record and send data from remote and difficult to access areas. 

The alerts from the Captis devices prior to an issue occurring has two major benefits for Sydney Water – the improved environment and waterway health around Sydney, and by introducing a more effective way of managing wastewater blockages there’s a significant reduction in maintenance and resource costs for the utility.   

Gerhard Loots, CEO of Kallipr, says, ‘Sydney Water have been early adopters of IoT solutions and are already seeing results in both significant event detection and prevention of environmental incidents. The Captis device is a proven solution across their infrastructure, and we’re pleased we can help them continue to enhance industry evolution and positively change the world we live in.’ 

Over 8,000 IoT devices are already installed across Sydney’s wastewater networks, which has seen around 370 potential blockages detected and acted on before an overflow eventuated.  

The majority of blockages are caused by tree roots penetrating pipes or access chambers, although grease and wet wipes also contribute to blockage build-up.  

The 15,000 additional Captis devices will allow for further connectivity of their network and give Sydney Water the data they need to continue to improve waterway health around Sydney.