Mapping the Unseen: How APEM Group is Revolutionising Sewer Mapping with AI and Remote Sensing

Today, many of these private sewers and lateral drains remain unmapped. These ‘invisible’ assets pose a significant challenge to utilities. Not only is it impossible to plan maintenance without knowing where they are, but they hide thousands of problems, such as surface and foul water misconnections, a key contributor to sewer flooding and the pollution of rivers.

Water companies are under pressure to reduce internal sewer flooding, improve river water quality, and make better use of budgets. A new approach is needed—one that doesn’t rely on slow, manual, on-foot inspections and unnecessary call-outs to plumbing issues that aren’t the water company’s responsibility. APEM Group is delivering that step change by combining cutting-edge remote sensing with tailored artificial intelligence to accurately map buried infrastructure, even on land where physical access is restricted.

How Do You Map What You Can’t See?

Using ultra-high-resolution aerial imagery, APEM creates a unique spatial asset data layer. This captures millions of subtle surface indicators correlating with underground infrastructure, from manholes and downpipes to tell-tale signs of misconnections.

These visual cues are identified by our AI algorithms, developed specifically for sewer mapping. By integrating this with contextual data such as local topography, property type, age, and layout, predictions can then be made as to the position and connectivity of underground assets that are otherwise impossible to trace.

This AI-driven method is scalable, repeatable and precise, transforming the way water companies can understand and manage customer-side sewer networks.