“Scanny” gives SDCWA a new perspective on pipe inspection

An award-winning, cost-saving invention is helping the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) inspect the interior of its 308 miles of large-diameter pipelines more safely.

The high-tech surveillance device is called “Scanny.” Previously, SDCWA hired a specialty rope crew at a minimum of $3,000 a day to help perform the steep, slippery work throughout the hills and canyons of its service area. Shutoffs for this type of maintenance can’t surpass 10 days, so the pipe remained slick throughout the job.

Martin Coghill, SDCWA’s operations and maintenance manager, created the Scanny device in his spare time in his garage for less than $6,000. He arranged a series of GoPro cameras and lights on a mobile chassis. Learn more about how Scanny works in this video.

“In the field, we lower the device down a slope and then pull it back up,” Coghill explained. “We take the SD (secure digital) cards out, and one person in the truck with a laptop looks for areas that might be of interest on the forward-facing camera. The time stamp and clock position are noted, and you can then observe the imagery from that specific camera to get the really high-resolution images.”

For example, he said, “on our last deployment, we discovered some damaged cement mortar within a steel pipe, which we were able to repair during the same shutdown.”

Aside from inspections, Scanny provides SDCWA with an unexpected benefit.

“The array of video files can all be stitched together using commercial software to produce a 360° virtual reality view,” Coghill said. “We obtained VR (virtual reality) headsets and showed our Board of Directors what it’s like inside the pipeline. Another added benefit is the ability to communicate to members of the public or other staff what the job entails without having them go in the pipe.”

At the urging of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association (SDCTA), Coghill submitted details of his team’s asset management program and won a Golden Watchdog Award. SDCTA recognizes winners for their outstanding achievements in transparency, fiscal stewardship and commitment to positive community impact.

The recognition is meaningful to Coghill.

“In a public utility setting, it’s quite difficult to be innovative and have the financial support to perform research and development,” he said. “If the ideas were to fail, it looks like you’ve failed to serve the taxpayer or ratepayer. We’ve successfully shown that you can have ideas that are new and even receive recognition from taxpayers for being innovative.”

Coghill and his team hope to allocate funding to develop more ideas.

“We have a bunch more ideas that we’d like to put into practice,” he said. “They’re not major breakthroughs, but they are ideas that, if successful, will help us be more efficient and more effective in what we do.”