Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. Awarded Sewer Condition Assessment Trial Project in Portugal

5km Project Awarded to Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. in Partnership with Águas e Energia do Porto

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, December 1, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. is proud to announce that it has been awarded a 5-kilometre sewer condition assessment trial project in the City of Porto, Portugal.

The project will be delivered in close collaboration with Águas e Energia do Porto (AEdP), the municipal water and energy utility responsible for managing the city’s water supply, wastewater, stormwater, and energy services.

This strategic trial project marks Electro Scan’s first major deployment in Portugal and represents a significant step forward in helping European utilities adopt AI and machine-intelligent data-driven field inspection methods to reduce infiltration and inflow (I&I) and prioritise rehabilitation investments.

A New Benchmark for Sewer Assessment in Portugal

Águas e Energia do Porto selected Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. for this pioneering trial project to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s patented Focused Electrode Leak Location (FELL) technology to detect and quantify pipe defects.

Previously, utilities relied on visual inspection or listening devices to assess the condition of sewers. But miss identification of leaky joints, poor sewer connections, and the inability to certify leak-free repairs or rehabilitation, has severely limited the use of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and data loggers.

In contrast, Electro Scan's FELL technology provides a precise and unambiguous way to identify and quantify pipe wall defects that contribute to sewer infiltration—an issue that significantly impacts treatment costs, network resilience, and environmental compliance.

FELL technology also provides an unbiased way to systematically test pipe repairs and post-rehabilitated pipes to ensure the leak-free delivery of Cured-In Place Pipe (CIPP), Epoxy Coatings, Sectional Pipe Replacements, and Point Repairs.

Unlike traditional inspection methods, FELL technology uses low-voltage/high frequency electric current to automatically identify leaks hidden from listening or visual cameras. Weaknesses that are not overcome with AI-based add-on assessments.

Using AI in combination with machine-intelligent Electro Scan technologies, utilities can continuously examine 360-degrees of a pipe wall as the FELL probe traverses downstream.

More importantly, FELL is able to identify multiple leak locations, each having a unique estimated leakage rate expressed in either gallons per minute or litres per second.

By pinpointing exact locations and severity of defects, FELL is the only technology that can identify key sources causing groundwater infiltration during wet weather events (or points of exfiltration during dry weather conditions), to accurately recommend and prioritise capital improvements/

The Porto project will cover approximately 5 kilometres of gravity sewer mains across key catchment areas identified by the utility.

These include zones historically affected by infiltration, areas experiencing surcharging during rainfall events, and locations where traditional inspection results have been inconclusive.

Strengthening Porto’s Commitment to Resilient Infrastructure

The City of Porto has long been recognised for its commitment to building a modern, resilient, and sustainable water network. Águas e Energia do Porto has consistently embraced innovation, digitalisation, and advanced analytics to ensure the city’s infrastructure meets the highest operational and environmental standards.

In awarding this contract, AEdP aims to:
• Validate a new, more reliable approach for identifying structural defects and infiltration sources.

• Reduce wet-weather flows entering wastewater treatment facilities, improving performance and reducing operational costs.

• Enhance asset prioritisation, ensuring that investment decisions are supported by objective, data-rich inspection results.

• Accelerate rehabilitation planning for sewer segments that pose the greatest risk to service continuity or environmental compliance.

The trial will play an important role in supporting AEdP’s ongoing strategy to modernise the city’s water system and strengthen its resilience in the face of climate change.

Electro Scan’s FELL inspection technology provides utilities with immediate and highly accurate data from the field. Defects are automatically quantified by severity in real time, enabling engineers and asset managers to review results within minutes.

Each defect will be geo-referenced, ranked, and incorporated into detailed reports that can be directly integrated into asset management and geographic information system (GIS) platforms.

During the Porto project, Electro Scan UK Ltd will work closely with AEdP’s engineering and operations teams to:
1. Conduct surveys using Electro Scan’s ES-400 FELL system.
2. Capture and upload data directly to the Electro Scan Amazon Web Services-based cloud platform.
3. Provide real-time dashboards and analytics, including infiltration flow estimates and rehabilitation recommendations.

The outcome will allow AEdP to compare traditional inspection results with Electro Scan’s machine-generated defect quantification, helping to establish a new standard for assessing sewer condition across the city.

The Porto sewer assessment trial project is an important milestone for Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. as it continues to expand its footprint in Europe.

The company has delivered industry-leading projects across the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and the Middle East, supporting utilities with robust data to reduce capital expenditure, improve environmental performance, and achieve regulatory compliance.

Electro Scan (UK) Ltd.’s Managing Director Brad Weston commented, “We are delighted to partner with Águas e Energia do Porto on this landmark project. Porto is one of Europe’s most forward-thinking utilities, and their commitment to innovation aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver accurate, actionable data that transforms how sewer networks are managed.

"This trial will not only demonstrate the value of FELL technology but also support AEdP’s long-term strategic goals for infrastructure resilience,” continued Weston.

The company anticipates that successful project delivery to lead to an expanded deployment across the region and serve as a reference project for other Portuguese and European utilities.

Supporting Environmental and Regulatory Commitments

As European utilities face increasing pressure to address sewer infiltration, reduce overflows, and guarantee compliance with environmental regulations, accurate pipeline condition assessment has never been more critical.

The health of sewer networks directly impacts river quality, coastal protection, treatment plant efficiency, and community resilience.

Field operations for the 5km trial project will commence in the coming weeks, beginning with data validation and network access planning.

Electro Scan’s field teams will then complete the full inspection programme, upload results to Electro Scan cloud, and deliver a comprehensive technical report summarising findings, infiltration estimates, and rehabilitation recommendations.

AEdP and Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. will jointly review the project outcomes, with the potential for future phases to extend the use of FELL technology across wider areas of Porto’s wastewater network.

About Águas e Energia do Porto
Águas e Energia do Porto is the municipal utility responsible for water supply, wastewater and stormwater management, and energy services in the City of Porto. Known for its innovative approach and commitment to sustainability, AEdP plays a central role in ensuring the city’s infrastructure remains resilient, efficient, and environmentally responsible.

About Electro Scan (UK) Ltd.
Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. is a leading provider of advanced pipeline assessment technologies designed to help water utilities accurately measure sewer and water pipe condition. Using its patented FELL technology, Electro Scan delivers fast, precise, and machine-generated data that eliminates subjectivity and provides reliable insights for asset management, rehabilitation planning, and regulatory compliance. The company serves utilities internationally and is recognised as a global innovator in smart wastewater and water-network assessment. Electro Scan (UK) Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. based Electro Scan Inc.

Janine Mullinix
Electro Scan Inc.
+1 916-779-0660
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