BACKGROUND

Bathurst Regional Council (BRC) in New South Wales, Australia, is famous for the V8 Supercars annual race around Mount Panorama. Less known is the scale and complexity of BRC’s wastewater infrastructure across approximately 310 miles, serving the Bathurst Township and several surrounding communities northwest of Sydney, AUS.

To better understand how its wastewater collection system behaves under certain conditions, in 2025 BRC enlisted the help of Hydronis Solutions, a SmartCover® Systems channel partner, to validate findings of its hydraulic modeling system. Modeling was conducted in 2024 by engineering firm Mott MacDonald to improve BRC’s system reliability and assist with planning.

BRC and Mott MacDonald partnered with Hydronis to deploy remote sewer-monitoring technology by SmartCover, enabling real-time data collection to be compared with hydraulic model projections and verify the system’s performance. Additionally, BRC and Mott MacDonald sought to better understand the impact of rainfall on the sewer system. To achieve this, five rain gauges were strategically installed throughout the network. The resulting data helped identify any discrepancies within the hydraulic model and allowed the team to integrate expected system behavior during wet-weather events. The dual installation enhanced model accuracy across various rainfall conditions.

SUMMARY

Hydronis deployed a suite of SmartCover solutions to support BRC’s hydraulic modeling validation and system monitoring. Installation of 30 SmartCover SmartFLOE monitors provide continuous field data for direct comparison with the theoretical outputs of the hydraulic model.

To improve rainfall measurement, Hydronis implemented SmartCover SmartRain technology by testing the virtual gauges alongside physical rain gauges. SmartRain gauges were paired with five physical gauges at identical locations, allowing direct comparison of accuracy and reliability. The virtual gauges matched the precision of the physical instruments while offering reduced maintenance and faster data access. This tailored solution provided BRC and Mott MacDonald with a robust, data-driven foundation for assessing system performance and supporting long-term planning.

Hydronis and SmartCover also implemented several custom solutions to address BRC’s additional operational challenges:

• Side mount installation to monitor the total dynamic range of the manhole and eliminate confined space entry.
• An adjustable antenna cable was engineered to span from the manhole to an unobstructed position, demonstrating the flexibility of the SmartCover solution.
• Hydronis developed customised reporting templates in line with existing SmartCover installation requirements to capture all site data to inform backend population of the MySmartCover.com platform.

Interested in finding out how our SmartCover solutions can work for you? Reach out to sales@smartcoversystems.com or call (855) 291-1980.