How ASTERRA solutions work across industries
Around the world, nearly 17 billion gallons of treated drinkable water (64 billion liters) are lost every day to leaks. With growing populations and diminishing freshwater supplies, wasted water and the associated wasted electricity and CO2 production needs to be better controlled.
As underground pipe systems age, the decay and water loss can stay hidden for years and then present disastrously. With ASTERRA MasterPlan, water industry managers can monitor their entire system with data-driven pipeline deficiency data without breaking ground. They can develop long-term replacement plans aided by an unprecedented level of infrastructure intelligence and act on problems before they become disasters.
ASTERRA Recover's ability to quickly locate leaks across entire water systems at once is the most significant advance in leak detection in over 80 years. This technology was the winner of the inaugural AWWA Innovation Award in 2021, moving it from an innovation to an industry standard.
Per AWWA, leaks take an average of 18 months to surface with substantial loss for the duration. For the first time ever, water system managers have the power to monitor underground leaks system-wide, before any surface evidence presents or any holes are dug, and measurably reduce overall water loss by quickly and proactively remediating leaking pipes.
Aging and leaking wastewater pipelines are a worldwide problem for both the wastewater industry and its communities. Wastewater contains toxins, pathogens, and other pollutants that leaking pipes can inject unseen into the underground environment, including aquifers. There can also be sizable fines, consent decrees, and other legal consequences.
All over the world, underground wastewater infrastructure is deteriorating much faster than it's being replaced, largely because its state of decay is unseen and unknown. With MasterPlan, the state of decay can be monitored, across even the largest city-wide systems, with a speed and efficiency that's entirely new to the industry. Wastewater managers can create long-term maintenance and pipeline replacement plans while viewing deficiencies across their entire system, with specific sections assessed on a 1 – 5 scale, with 5 needing the most immediate attention.
Recover gives wastewater industry managers the ability to monitor for underground pipeline leaks while they're still underground and before their impact spreads. Entire systems for major cities can be assessed for leaks on an ongoing basis. And expensive crew hours are reserved for repair work instead of search efforts.
Mining operations worldwide are highly vulnerable to the impacts of moisture. The integrity of toxic waste dams is just one major issue.
Mine operators use EarthWorks to see where water is seeping from waste dams and production pipelines, collecting under roads and heavy equipment sites, and weakening hillsides. The largest operations, including tailings (waste) dams can be continually monitored to improve design and safety, anticipate slope failures, and document compliance.
Dam & Levee
There are 122,000 earthen dams in the Unites States and Europe, many between 50 and 100 years old; and 24,513 miles of levees throughout the U.S., many are earthen, aging, and under-uninspected.
Failure would be catastrophic for downstream populations.
Operators of earthen dams and levees use the soil moisture maps created by EarthWorks to target areas of excess moisture and potential failure. Operators can continually monitor systems to proactively identify problems for mitigation, as well as modernize safety and maintenance procedures and meet compliance requirements.
140,000 miles of U.S. freight rail generates $219B of output and $26B in tax revenue. That freight may include toxic or explosive contents.
Excess moisture is a major cause of failure.
Rail system engineers, operators, and rail service providers use EarthWorks to locate and evaluate underground soil moisture beneath the railbed and within the rail system rights-of-way. Potential rail failure locations are mapped out over large areas at satellite-viewing scale, so engineers can mitigate problems before they occur.
There are 4 million miles of paved roads in North America and 5 million kilometers in Europe, with minimal inspections for excess moisture.
Moisture is the leading cause of roadway failure.
EarthWorks gives transportation managers an overview of moisture concentrated under paved roadways, the surrounding rights of way, and adjacent hillsides above and below. The service is used to conduct predictive and corrective maintenance, evaluate and improve drainage systems, anticipate sinkholes and other failures, and reduce maintenance costs.
Large property installations that include buildings, roads, parking lots, sidewalks, and other paved surfaces can face the same damage from hidden underground soil moisture that towns and cities do.
Owners and managers of large property installations use EarthWorks to locate and assess underground moisture beneath parking lots, roadways, sidewalks, and other paved surfaces. Likely failure locations are mapped out so owners can mitigate problems prior to more extensive damage.
ASTERRA's Impact
Since we first launched commercially in 2016, the water industry has verified 57,200+ system leaks using Recover's ground leak detection technology. As a direct result, 210,830 million gallons of drinkable water and 527,070 MWH of energy are now being saved annually, and those numbers are quickly rising. ASTERRA can also meaningfully reduce the amount of wastewater leaking into the environment.
ASTERRA solutions have just begun to impact the world. As our technology's applications grow and we introduce ourselves to more industries, our impact on those industries and the health and sustainability of their communities will continue to grow as well.