UC Irvine scientists to monitor water, sewage pipes

Daniel A. Anderson / University Communications

UCI engineers Pai Chou (pictured) and colleagues are developing a water pipe monitoring system that features GPS tracking and wireless communication.

Researchers at UC Irvine are piping up with a new way to check water mains for damage during a big earthquake. KPCC's Susan Valot says a $6 million federal grant will help them carry out a three-year test.

The engineers plan to outfit underground pipes in part of Orange County with wireless sensors. They're about the size of a CD, and they send real-time messages if pipes break. The scientists say the system will be useful during an earthquake, when pipes could break in several places at once. The sensors will pinpoint damage quickly so crews can repair the damage, and get water flowing again fast.

The engineers say the monitoring system in place now doesn't have enough sensors to spot damaged pipe quickly. They say it's designed to locate isolated pipe breaks, but not several breaks at once. The new sensor system will monitor pipes in a one-square-mile area.

Ideally, the UCI engineers want to test it in a 10-square-mile area. But first, they've got to figure out how to power the sensors over a wide area, and how keep that bigger monitoring system affordable.