InSchuKa: Facing climate change with intelligent sewer tunnels 

What is it all about?

Extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rain and drought, pose major challenges for the wastewater industry: During heavy rainfall, the sewer capacity is often insufficient to remove the huge amount of water. On the other hand, during long dry periods, the sewers often have to be flushed additionally to prevent foul-smelling deposits and other damage.

The project name InSchuKa is a shortened version of the entire project title "Kombinierter Infrastruktur- und Umwelt-Schutz durch KI-basierte Kanalnetzbewirtschaftung im Rahmen der Jenaer Eigeninitiative ZEUS" (combined protection of infrastructure and environment by AI-based tunnel network management within the conext of the Jena initiative ZEUS).

The project is funded by the Federal Ministery of Education and Research.

Who is participating?

In the project InSchuKa, JenaWasser and the Stadtwerke Jena group are working together with two research institutes and three partners from industry: 

• Hochschule Hof
• Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal
• Zweckverband JenaWasser, Jena
• HST Systemtechnik GmbH & Co KG, Meschede
• Pegasys Gesellschaft für Automation und Datensystemen, Meschede
• Nivus GmbH, Eppingen

What is the plan?

By 2025, a system of flexibly deployable butterfly valves is to be installed in Jena's main wastewater collector, which stretches from Lobeda to the central sewage treatment plant in Jena-Zwätzen, and made controllable via a digital platform. Artificial intelligence techniques will be used to automate sewer control.

Based on real-time data from the sewer and available weather forecasts, among other things, the transport volume in the main collector is to be increased or reduced as required with the help of these sewer flaps. The aim is to optimally utilise the (storage) volume of the sewer in order to prevent the sewers from "overflowing" during heavy rainfall and to be able to retain water for flushing for eventual dry periods.