GPRS’ SiteMap® infrastructure mapping platform and professional pipe inspection services helped a Michigan airport ensure the integrity of its expansive stormwater system.

Project Manager Andy Jurski inspected and mapped around 60,000 linear feet of storm lines and related infrastructure at Flint Bishop International Airport (FNT). The inspection aimed to help airport officials evaluate their system’s integrity ahead of planned improvement projects.

“They had never had their lines expected, their storm lines,” Jurski explained. “They wanted to get eyes on their lines as they do have some projects coming up… Some of these lines could be close to 100 years old… [and] they’ve never had eyes inside the pipes.”

Fortunately, the airport had not faced any major incidents stemming from the degradation of its stormwater system. However, sinkholes had developed in a field near the runway due to pipe separations and other issues commonly associated with aging infrastructure.

“They wanted to [focus] on any line about 18” [in diameter] or bigger,” Jurski said.

GPRS offers a full range of sewer and stormwater line inspection services—including video pipe inspections (VPI), smoke testing, and dye tracing—to provide a detailed understanding of the infrastructure beneath your feet.

At the airport, Jurski primarily utilized our VPI service, which leverages advanced remote video (CCTV) cameras to evaluate the condition of water, sanitary, storm sewer, and lateral pipelines. Our NASSCO-certified Project Managers perform sewer inspections to locate clogs, identify cross bores, detect structural defects and damages, and assess lateral sewer lines.

Jurski started his inspection of the airport’s stormwater system with a site walk. Over the following months, he meticulously inspected and mapped the system, delivering updated drawings, maps, and comprehensive video and photographic documentation of all identified defects to the airport and its hired engineering firm.

“They even had a culvert going underneath a runway that was about 17’ tall by 32’ wide, that we were able to do an inspection with [our] equipment,” he said. “We provided inspection on all 60,000 LF that they were looking at and were able to map and update their drawings. There were several lines that they showed going a certain way that were not there or were capped off, or actually went another way.”

Jurski was also able to inspect and map the buried lines and valves that are part of the airport’s deicing system.

“When they deice planes, they’ve got to be able to have that deicing solution go to deicing holding tanks,” he explained. “The site had that, but you’ve got to make sure the valves are working. We were able to see some of the valves had stuff stuck in them, so they were able to get them cleaned and then we were able to put the camera in there and see the valves were actually functioning as they should be. That way they guarantee the contaminants of the deicing solution would not go out into creeks and rivers and waterways and contaminate groundwater.”

All the data Jurski collected on site was compiled into a detailed, NASSCO-compliant WinCan report. In this report, all defects and other issues identified within a storm or sewer system are geolocated, ranked by severity, and documented with both photo and video evidence.

“We found a lot of collapsed pipes, and joints separated,” Jurski said. “We didn’t find anything that would mean issues to the integrity, or affect air traffic as it is – thankfully, it’s all stuff that’s off to the sides – but it’s stuff that could be very concerning during normal maintenance on site like mowing the grass, animal control, things like that. We also found were stuff is seeping in, they’ve got encrustations building up on joints, stuff that’s more operational like they need to get the lines cleaned so that way they don’t have to worry about future build-ups on lines that could create like a dam inside there as debris goes down the line.”

Airport personnel and their contractors can access this data anytime, anywhere—via computer, smartphone, or tablet—thanks to SiteMap® (patent pending), GPRS’ project and facility management application. SiteMap® provides precise existing conditions documentation to safeguard assets and ensure safety.

With SiteMap®, critical infrastructure data is readily accessible and securely shareable, empowering even the most extensive and complex facilities and campuses to avoid costly and potentially hazardous errors stemming from miscommunication.

Jurski noted that officials at Flint Bishop International Airport understood the value of consolidating all their site data into a single source of truth, particularly as their long-time facility manager was nearing retirement, taking decades of expertise with him.

“This gentleman had been at this airport for, as we were joking, a lifetime,” Jurski explained. “So, the gentleman that knew where all the utilities were on site is now retired, and they’re going to have to rely on maps instead of calling up this guy and saying ‘hey, where’s this line at?’ Now they don’t have that opportunity, but with SiteMap®… with this, they’re able to decipher which lines went to each outfall. So, if there’s an emergency on site, they know where to take and block off a line where they’ll know it won’t get into a creek, river, watersheds, anything like that.”

SiteMap® helps you plan, design, manage, dig, and ultimately build better.