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EmNet finds sewer solutions - South Bend Tribune: Business Page 1 of 2 <br />EmNet finds sewer solutions <br />KEVIN ALLEN South Bend Tribune kallen @sbtinfo.com I Posted: Monday, July 8, 2013 <br />5:29 am <br />SOUTH BEND -- One of the largest, most - expensive issues facing many U.S. cities is out of sight <br />for many of those cities' residents. <br />The problem lies underground. <br />It's old sewers, built to collect both sewage and stormwater, that can overflow and pollute rivers <br />and lakes during heavy rain. <br />Nearly 800 cities in the United States rely on such Victorian -era sewer systems, and the <br />Environmental Protection Agency wants all of them fixed. <br />The scale of the solutions can be huge, and the costs can be as well. <br />That's why more cities are turning to EmNet, a small- but - growing South Bend company that has a <br />novel approach to preventing sewers from overflowing. <br />EmNet, which stands for "embedded networks," formed in 2004 out of technologies developed in <br />conjunction with Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame. <br />The company uses wireless sensors installed under manhole covers to monitor water levels in <br />sewer pipes across a city. The sensors can open and close "smart" valves in the system, enabling <br />flow to be directed into pipes where capacity is available and thus maximize the efficiency of the <br />overall sewer system <br />The sensors also send that flow data via radio waves to a central monitoring station, where <br />wastewater workers can see in real time if a problem is developing. <br />Since 2005, South Bend has been a sort of living laboratory for EmNet to test its technology. The <br />system used here is called CSOnet, short for Combined Sewer Overflow Network. <br />The relationship has been mutually beneficial. City officials have said a $6 million investment to <br />implement EmNet's solution has reduced overflows to a degree that would have cost $120 million <br />under the conventional approach of simply expanding the sewer system. <br />"It's been tremendous," South Bend Public Works Director Eric Horvath said. "It's really allowed <br />us to get a better handle on our entire sewer system and be much smarter about how we're <br />operating the system." <br />EmNet also has attracted other cities as clients. <br />http : / /www.southbendtribune.com/ news/ business /article _ e259feb6- e7b0 -1 l e2 -b32e -001 a4... 12/3/2013 <br />