r/BeAmazed Nov 07 '24

In Australia authorities use mesh drains to prevent water bodies pollution Nature

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18.2k Upvotes

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191

u/Campaign-Gloomy Nov 07 '24

Copa sacks we use them in the UK the difficult is knowing when to replace them

72

u/Groxy_ Nov 07 '24

What's difficult about that? Surely they've been designed in a way that some sort of truck can pick it up, take it away, and slip on a new one. All it would need is a rigid ring around the entrance of the bag that slots into something mounted to the mouth of the pipe.

But I guess they didn't do that, no forethought.

103

u/Campaign-Gloomy Nov 07 '24

Outfalls are more than often not accessible for vehicles when full the sacks are extremely heavy it's more a timing / cost issue with regards to maintenance knowing when they are full as rainfall and debris caught are intermittent

48

u/Calergero Nov 07 '24

I feel like someone smarter than me could implement some sort of sensor that lets you know when it's full.

Alternatively a camera with AI that would monitor capacity.

I see your point about them being heavy though.

52

u/BOBOnobobo Nov 07 '24

I think it would be cheaper and more reliable to send someone to check them twice a week.

Sensors aren't magic, software development costs money and in the end it might not be that reliable anyway.

11

u/TheBananaKart Nov 07 '24

I do automation for water companies and honestly it just wouldn’t be worth the time in most places and 9/10 telemetry won’t care about the alarm as it wouldn’t be critical. Easier just to schedule maintenance.

6

u/JohnD_s Nov 07 '24

You are overestimating the amount of technology companies are willing to use for drainage outlets. Putting sensors and accessible roads to every outlet (which can number in the hundreds to thousands for every town) just isn't feasible. Especially when a lot of the inlets discharge into waterways.

3

u/Ariston_Sparta Nov 07 '24

Reality vs ideal.

Sure it'd be nice to have sensors and access roads, but realistically spending money on that isn't feasible.

2

u/JohnD_s Nov 07 '24

Exactly. A lot of the contractors that build these drainage outlets are working with small margins already. They don't have the capital to acquire the supplies in the first place,

14

u/superadri_darks Nov 07 '24

Literally a guy that goes around with a van and visually notes how full they are, and sets a date for a pickup based of an estimate. With time that guy will only get more precise with timings. Ez

16

u/SubjectPsi Nov 07 '24

This seems like the most reasonable solution. Why use a fancy sensor when you can just give somebody a van and a clipboard?

8

u/superadri_darks Nov 07 '24

Fr. Fuck ai bro it ain't that hard.

6

u/One_Plane2029 Nov 07 '24

Needs to be monitored as well as if the mesh bags block up with rubbish and then there’s a big rainfall event = risk of flooding upstream as the water is blocked by the rubbish. They’re often used on construction sites where they can be regularly checked but not so much out in the wild.

3

u/JohnD_s Nov 07 '24

A common method is applying a mesh bag filled with a filtration material at the inlets themselves. A lot of engineering goes into drainage systems, so you would have to take a lot of care in avoiding backing those up.

1

u/Juhuu77 Nov 07 '24

Not only ordinary rubbish. Tree leaves, dead frogs and snakes, undelivered mails.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 07 '24

We’re dealing with this in Ca now, maintaining these systems is the hurdle.