Sewer mapping continues to improve

By Terry Murry on Thursday, January 18th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – The Pendleton City Council heard an annual report this week regarding the city’s sewer system. Mayor John Turner said that with the use of a geographic image system, determining what’s where underground is not the guesswork it used to be.

“They’re mapping the system as they repair it,” Turner said. “Instead of knowing approximately where valves and things are, we know precisely within millimeters of where they are.”

Turner said mapping the sewer and water systems using GIS has been going on for more than 20 years, and the progress is becoming evident.

“I remember years ago talking to the public works guys and they’d get a broken pipe some place and try and find a valve and go to some chart that was written 120 years ago, and it might be there or it might be three feet away, and they’d have to get out their shovels and dig for it,” Turner said. “We’re fixing that issue.”