David M. Cornish, President The annual Infrastructure Week has become a “Groundhog Day,” in the context of our country’s aging water infrastructure. Despite the ever-increasing demand for water, much of the collection, treatment, and distribution infrastructure has fallen into an unacceptable state of disrepair due to decades of misdirected investments and unsystematic maintenance. The nation’s capital provides the best example of a city in dire need of infrastructure renovation or overhaul. Significant portions of the water distribution system in Washington, D.C., date back to the early 1900s, and the median age of a water pipe is over 80 years. As a result of the water infrastructure’s age and lack of adequate maintenance, Washington, D.C. now witnesses over 500 water-main breaks per year—or more than one every day.

According to reports, more regions in the U.S. contend with potential water shortage as 20 percent of the treated water is lost due to leakage. Simultaneously, there are several concerns over deteriorating water quality. Much of the country’s reservoirs and distribution pipes are susceptible to lead contamination and bacterial growth that causes cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, and developmental delays in children. Needless to say, if left unattended, access to clean water would soon become far less reliable, jeopardizing both public health and economic growth. This highlights the significance of adopting a streamlined approach to water infrastructure maintenance and asset management operations, not only to meet today’s needs but also for future generations.

Enter Underwater Solutions.

Founded in 1992, Underwater Solutions is a water infrastructure specialist that offers exceptional services in the field of water management. The company has been providing in-service compliance inspections and essential maintenance of raw, partially treated, and finished water infrastructure.

Having its business operations built around the notion of customer success, Underwater Solutions took a strategic turn towards reinventing and restructuring its technologies and capabilities to align well with the changing tides. By doing so, the company aims at transcending the conventional “pen and paper” model of inspecting, maintaining compliance, upgrading, and rehabilitating infrastructure into the 21st century. Today, they serve as a leader in the water infrastructure space with a team of certified inspection divers who hold in-depth expertise in the water process and the infrastructure associated with each process.

Foraying into the World of Automation

“The key to the future of infrastructure asset management is automation; and that’s our primary goal at Underwater Solutions,” says David M. Cornish, the President of the company. "We specialize in automating the processes behind maintaining our country’s water infrastructure with first-of its-kind water infrastructure asset management platform.

The development of Underwater Solutions’ state of-the-art USAM platform is powered by the company’s unrivaled in-service compliance inspection capabilities and their hands-on industry experience. Underwater Solutions leverages structure-specific, customized work orders to perform clients’ routine compliance inspections.

Their assessment drives are designed to gather over 15,000 metadata points per structure through a comprehensive set of tests. For example, Underwater Solutions’ inspection divers use ultrasonic thickness gauges to perform non-destructive tests on steel structures for measuring various parameters that determine their health and lifespan.

They evaluate the thickness by conducting similar tests on protective coatings using dry film thickness gauges. When it comes to water quality, experts at Underwater Solutions check for thermal stratification and chemical stratification by measuring water temperatures and chlorine residual levels.