For centuries, kings and countries sent explorers into the unknown to map trade routes and trouble areas. During these adventures, many discoveries were made and many new tools were developed. Mapping has long been important, and there is still a need to accurately map areas and update them as the world changes. The same is true for utility systems below the ground.
Utility companies began making underground maps around 1910, and later advances in electromagnetic locating technology improved the way systems could be identified and mapped. Today, ground penetrating radar (GPR) units and specially trained operators can also help find old and forgotten areas within utility systems.
I worked for a small water utility serving 1,150 customers in a city of around 2,300 residents. Our day-to-day work was done using crude paper journals and maps from the 1960s and 1970s. Most had street names that did not match our current 911 addresses. It was common to be parked on “Elm Street” while looking at an ancient paper utility map telling me I was on an old gravel road named “Route 2.”
I did have a retired operator with years of service I could rely on, along with people who had lived in the same houses for decades who could tell you an old street name, but I knew we needed to update our system maps to save time, money, and frustration.
I had a plan to make our system records better. After doing some research and talking to neighboring utility operators, I learned it wasn’t going to cost the city thousands of dollars. I could do the legwork myself with a smartphone, a computer, and a yearly software license fee of around $300. After some convincing of the mayor and city board members, I was able to purchase the software and get to work.
When I began building the digital map of our water system, drawing lines on the computer was the easy part. The hard part was determining what size pipes we had in different parts of town so we could get that information into the maps. We only had two ways to figure that out: rely on incomplete information in the old service records or go out and dig up the pipe and determine it for ourselves.
Our old records gave us no idea whether the water lines were plastic or galvanized, or whether they were 4-inch, 8-inch, or 16-inch pipe. Reviewing old work orders and repair logs for different locations helped us compile a list of the pipe sizes in most sections of the system.
As the mapping took shape, it revealed the miles of infrastructure we had underground. With the city covering about 4 square miles, we had over 38 miles of buried pipe. Once I got the pipe-size breakdown data, the first benefit emerged: I found out our repair inventory was far too large for some pipe sizes, and we had no parts at all for others. This helped us prepare for future needs without continuing to maintain old inventory or waste money stocking items we no longer use.
I was able to share my map designs with my team members so that when they were going out for repairs, we knew what size parts to take before getting to the location and before digging into the ground. This saved wasted trips back to the shop, or worse, having to drive an hour away to a supplier to buy a part. That meant better response time on our repairs and less overtime.
Once repairs were made or new findings came to light, we were able to upload the new information into the system with photos. A better recordkeeping process was now in place. I was even able to upload meter and valve locations, making water shutoffs faster. During emergencies, I had a Plan B ready to go, knowing exactly where to go next if the first option did not work. We even had the ability to give other utilities or public works departments within the city, or anyone else we chose, read-only access to see where our infrastructure was.
The mapping process showed us the band-aids on top of band-aids on many of the aging steel pipes in our system. Now that I had this new tool, I could show the mayor and city board our entire water system mapped on one screen and direct them to the areas where I needed new valves or sections of pipe replaced.
It made presenting budget needs more focused on actual, specific system issues as we fought for budget dollars. If I needed to justify $1,500 worth of parts, I could open a map and show them what we repaired. If we needed additional money to replace or upgrade part of the system, I could use the map to pinpoint the location, problem, and materials needed. If we were asked to make structural upgrades to support new fire hydrants or a fountain in a park, I could show on the map the size of pipe, length, valves, and what was feasible based on the size of the lines already in the ground, along with what an upgrade would cost.
As a kid, you may have always wanted to find a map to some lost treasure buried with an “X.” In many ways, that is what modern mapping still does. It helps utilities uncover hidden information, make new discoveries, and use better tools to solve old problems. If you haven’t digitally mapped your system yet, I encourage you to research your options, even for a small system. It may not turn out to be the loot you were looking for, but modernizing your system could end up being worth its weight in gold.