Robot-like device to inspect important Lake Zurich sewer pipe

The Lake Zurich board this week agreed to spend nearly $300,000 to flush a little robot-like device through an important 3-mile sewer pipe to assess its integrity as a preventive measure.

The futuristic-looking device, called Pipe Diver, will swim through the old pipe and detect problems. Village officials said it's a less costly alternative to shutting off the pipe and digging to cut it open for inspection.

Steve Bruskiewicz of Pure Technologies said the tool sends an electromagnetic signal through the pipe and reads the signal when it bounces back. The device can detect sediment buildups, faults in the pipe and other problems. Bruskiewicz said company analysts will review the data and provide a full report.

Trustee Jim Beaudoin said when he first saw the $294,050 price tag, he thought it was too expensive, but then he remembered how much it costs to do emergency repairs when a pipe fails. It cost about $1.4 million to fix a pipe collapse under Cuba Road in 2015, he added.

"It was a mess," Beaudoin said. "Investing $300,000 could potentially save the residents a significant amount of money. We talked about it being 10 times the money on an emergency repair."

Another reason Beaudoin said he felt the project was important was because the pipe is important.

Whenever anyone in the village flushes a toilet, the waste goes through this pipe.

It extends about 2.84 miles from the Quentin Road Pump Station and flows south to the intersection of East Cuba Road before continuing east through the villages of Kildeer and Long Grove. Eventually the waste ends up at the Lake County Treatment Facility in Buffalo Grove.

The village board voted unanimously to approve the pipe assessment.