Sewerage Systems Office

Sewerage System Disaster Prevention Response

Measure Improvement to rainwater/sewage mixture flow In order to resolve dangerous road conditions resulting from inundation or manhole cover explosion caused by heavy rainfall, the Sewerage Systems Office of the Public Works Department of the Taipei City Government works out both palliative and radical solutions for alleviating the possibility of such nuisances

The Palliative Measure – Adoption of lift-resistant manhole cover/frame

From 2016, the SSO started adopting more float resistant manhole covers and frames to replace the existing covers, for preventing manhole cover explosions resulting from sudden pressure rise in the pipeline caused by large amount of rainwater surging into the sewerage in a very short duration of time, where manhole covers blast off for they can no longer resist the internal pressure. As of 2022, replacements in both primary and secondary trunks in the city had all been completed .

Since the 105th year of the Republic of China (2016 AD), this department has begun to replace the original manhole covers with frame covers with higher pressure resistance to reduce the increase in pressure in the pipelines caused by heavy rainfall and the influx of large amounts of rainwater into the sewers in a short period of time. The hole cover cannot withstand the pressure and erupts. The cumulative number of replacement manhole covers with high pressure resistance has increased from 319 in 105 to 6139 in 2023.

Before/After Contrast of Manhole Cover

Before/After Contrast of Manhole Cover

Radical Solution – Technology based and hot-zone oriented We set up the “Mobile Level Gauge Monitoring Branch Network” to identify inundation hot zones during heavy-rains in a technological way; we diverted sewerage and rainwater drains in hot zones using separate pipelines, for alleviating possible inundation during a heavy rain. Up to now (end of 2022), 103 locations of rainwater/sewerage mixture pipeline in hot zones had been cut off.

Mobile Level Monitoring Network of Branch Pipeline

Build a "mobile water level meter monitoring branch pipe network" to use technological means to monitor which areas are hot areas flooded by heavy rainfall. Implement sewage sewer and rainwater sewer diversion projects for hot areas to separate rainwater and sewage with different pipelines. This reduces the possibility of flooding from heavy rainfall.

E-government and Intellectualization

The SSO installed a Sewerage Computer-Aided Operating System in 2021 to integrate and optimize disaster prevention functionalities of existing stations. In the same year the system was tested on-line and put to use. Flow of the sewerage system can be predicted via AI Learning and hydrological simulation of the Storm Water Management Module (SWMM), thereby early warnings can be released and operating suggestions can be proposed, for effectively escalating contingency capabilities of the system; additionally, information can be thereby obtained regarding the weather forecast, real-time precipitation, water supply status, station/channel data and the disaster prevention system.

System Merits

System Screen (illustration)

OSS Disaster Prevention Center