New technology allows TCI to see trash under city streets

SAN ANTONIO – The Transportation and Capital Improvements Department has gone high tech in an effort to inspect the miles of pipe under San Antonio’s streets.

“This camera, it has wheels on it,” said Fermin Rosales, a TCI field operations inspector. "We can control through our system inside the truck.”

The robot has two cameras: a pan-and-tilt camera and a panoramic camera. This setup not only allows inspectors to examine the city’s drainage system without actually having to climb down in it but also lets city crews inspect drainage pipes and culverts all over the city. 

TCI started using this process five years ago.

“We started [using] the program in the downtown area because it is the oldest part of the city,” said Nefi Perez, assistant director of TCI.

According to Rosales, the most frequent thing crews find is trash.

“We come to find shopping carts, oil cans, mattresses, a bunch of trash,” he said. 

Perez said the public isn’t always thinking about what problems the trash can cause.

“They see a curb inlet on the side of the road, and they don’t think twice and just throw the trash down there,” Perez said. “If you’re ever downtown, take a look at the curb inlets downtown. They actually have a screen that protects trash from going in there.”

Keeping trash out of the inlets and the pipes is critical in protecting the environment.

“We don’t want anything but rainwater going into our rivers,” Rosales said. “All of the water runs into our creeks and we can’t have anything other than rainwater in there. Our main priority is maintaining our water system.”


About the Authors:

Sean Talbot is the Assistant News Director at KSAT. He formerly served as the Assignments Manager. He joined KSAT in 2001. He graduated from Texas State with a degree in Mass Communication with a minor in Political Science. When he’s not getting our news crews out the door, he’s at home with his wife Lomisa and their two daughters Grace and Sydney.

Before starting at KSAT in August 2011, Ken was a news photographer at KENS. Before that he was a news photographer at KVDA TV in San Antonio. Ken graduated from San Antonio College with an associate's degree in Radio, TV and Film. Ken has won a Sun Coast Emmy and four Lone Star Emmys. Ken has been in the TV industry since 1994.