City of Baltimore Awards $7.6 Million Contract to Electro Scan Inc. for Lead Water Service Line Inspection Project

Award-Winning SWORDFISH Pipe Inspection Technology to Assess Buried Water Pipes, Without Digging

BALTIMORE, MD, USA, June 10, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Electro Scan Inc. announced today that the City of Baltimore Board of Estimates has approved a $7.6 million contract for water service line pipe inspection services, including software and technology licensing.

The sole source contract was awarded for the period from June 2024 to June 2027.

"We are delighted to serve the citizens of Baltimore on this important project," stated Mike App, Executive Vice President, Electro Scan Inc.

The award is in response to the City's ongoing efforts to identify water service line pipe materials, including lead pipes, in accordance with President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR).

Members of the City of Baltimore Board of Estimates include:
• Nick J. Mosby, City Council President and Chair of the Board of Estimates.
• Brandon M. Scott, Mayor.
• Bill Henry, Comptroller and Secretary to the Board of Estimates.
• James Shea, City Solicitor.
• Jason W. Mitchell, Director of Public Works.

Passed into law in 2021, the EPA requires all 50,000 U.S. water systems to conduct a detail inventory of all utility-owned and privately-owned water service lines to locate and replace lead drinking water pipes.

While the deadline for submitting preliminary results to the EPA is October 16, 2024, water utilities are expected to take many years to accurately locate and validate lead water pipes with a goal of replacing all lead pipes that carry drinking water to households, schools, day care facilities, and businesses.

As stated in the city's award, Electro Scan inspection technology is proprietary and the only commercially available solution for pipe material identification.

Known as electrical resistance testing, Electro Scan's patented SWORDFISH device measures changes in conductivity as its probe moves through the inside of a pipe; not requiring to dig or excavate a customer's property, sidewalk, or street.

Electro Scan's machine-intelligent technology was first developed to identify pipe defects missed by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and acoustic sensors.

Winner of the 2023 Best Cleantech Award at Sensors Converge, held in Santa Clara, California, Electro Scan recently opened a state-of-the-art Customer Engagement Center to support online customer bookings at a growing number of water systems wishing to create accurate inventories of water service connections.

While lead water pipes and fixtures were banned in 1986, Baltimore has 113,626 homes built before 1939 or 42% of total housing units, compared to Washington, DC with 113,235 homes built before 1939 and Philadelphia with 293,652 homes built before 1939.

During the question and answer portion of the City's Board of Estimates meeting, Richard J. Luna, Deputy Director, Department of Public Works, City of Baltimore, reported that the City of Baltimore has approximately 177,000 unknown water service lines requiring inspection.

During the meeting, Paul Sayan, P.E. Acting Water/Wastewater Bureau Chief, stated that the decision to adopt Electro Scan was in keeping with using new technology to improve decision making and that results would expand on an already successful citizen self-survey program that has resulted in 4,200 homeowner reports.

Electro Scan's $7.6 million contract includes goals for minority business participation and local hiring.

Today's announcement coincides with the opening session of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Annual Conference & Expo #ACE2024 in Anaheim, California, June 10-13, where Electro Scan is exhibiting with its SWORDFISH services partner, M.E. Simpson & Co., Inc., Booth #1701.

ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC.
Founded in 2011, Electro Scan Inc. is headquartered in Sacramento, California, USA, and is a leading international supplier of machine-intelligent pipeline assessment and quality assurance products and services for the water, sewer, and oil & gas markets. The company designs, develops, and markets proprietary equipment and delivers technical field services using its SaaS-based cloud application that automatically locates, measures, and reports leaks and water service line pipe materials, including lead pipes. The company's products and professional services detect buried lead water services on a house-by-house basis; typically not found or confirmed by legacy inspection methods.

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