Sewer Guard - Protector for Manhole Scavengers

Abstract

Sewage disposal cleanup is a major environmental concern. The cleaning process of drains and sewers comes with their own set of hazards like contracting illness, constant chemical exposure, direct contact and handling of dirty waste. Working conditions of these sanitary workers have remained unchanged over a century. These health hazards include exposure to harmful gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide, cardiovascular degeneration, musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritic changes and intervertebral disc herniation, infections like hepatitis, leptospirosis and helicobacter, skin problems, respiratory system problems and altered pulmonary function parameters. The toxicity of gases in sewage is now impossible to quantify. Also, contractors take advantage of uneducated needy workers and use them to clean manholes without any safety equipment in order to cut prices. So, the project SEWER GUARD aims to develop an information and communication ecosystem that can recognize a variety of gases, clearly sense the change in intensity due to depth and correlate that to the time it gets inhaled by the worker. The gas levels are measured by MQ series sensors. It will send an alert to the sewer cleaner and authorized people who are remotely located in the job, if the levels exceed the threshold. The authorities can be notified by SMS message if sewage is likely to overflow. To monitor the system, an android application is created and integrated with it and data stored on cloud.

Sewer Guard will CORRELATE, CALCULATE and COMMUNICATE the gas intensity, depth and time inhaled for the worker to quickly come out before it gets dangerous or fatal