Custom software for sewer management and the inspection register
Until 2020, an inspection report arrived with the classes already in it. That is no longer the case: the inspector records what they see, and assigning classes has become the manager's task. In many organisations that responsibility was added without anything being set up to support it.
What has shifted since 2020
Two standards that underpinned Dutch sewer inspection for decades no longer apply. NEN 3398, the investigation and condition assessment of external sewerage, and NEN 3399, the classification system for visual inspection, were withdrawn on 28 January 2020. What still applies is European: NEN-EN 13508-1 from 2012 for the general requirements and NEN-EN 13508-2 for the coding, in the Netherlands the edition with the national annex from March 2021.
More important than the numbers is what that transition did to the work. In its classification methodology of March 2019, Stichting RIONED wrote that applying the classification would be decoupled from inspection from January 2020: inspectors record in detail what they observe, and it is then up to asset managers to apply the classification to those results. That methodology is set out in tables that list, per row, the condition aspect code, three characterisations and a class on a scale of 1 to 5, separately for sewer pipes and for manholes.
What did not come with it were the limits. RIONED provides an example set of warning and intervention benchmarks, noting that these are not formally adopted or standardised benchmarks and that each manager determines which threshold values to apply. On the administrative side, the fixed trigger disappeared at the same time: article 4.22 of the Environmental Management Act, which made the sewerage plan mandatory, lapsed on 1 January 2024, and the sewerage programme now sits among the non-mandatory programmes under the Environment and Planning Act. The tasks under article 2.16 remained in place: rainwater, groundwater and urban wastewater.
If contaminated soil is involved in the work, you operate under a certification with your own notifications and an evaluation report. See the page on software for projects under BRL SIKB 7000.
How we build this
The unit is the object, not the inspection round. Everything ever observed, classified and decided about a pipe section or a manhole hangs from that object.
Every object with its own identity, material, dimensions and year of construction. As long as the asset exists only as a map layer, there is nothing to attach history to.
Files come in exactly as the inspector recorded them and land on the object. That turns the work of three contractors into a single series.
The class is assigned here, not typed into a field. If your methodology changes, you reclassify the entire series rather than only going forward.
You decide which class you monitor, warn at or intervene at. Those thresholds belong explicitly in the system, not in the head of a single manager.
What the software actually does
The register per object carries the whole. What else you need depends on the size of your asset base.
Inspection register per object
Each observation is recorded with its date, the person who carried it out, and a code, linked to the pipe or manhole it belongs to. The history carries over to the next round instead of starting from scratch.
Classification using your own table
From condition aspect and characterisations to a class, according to your own table. Because it is kept separate, you can revise it without touching the observations.
Warning and intervening at your thresholds
The thresholds are not standardised, so you define them yourself. That makes a judgement repeatable rather than personal.
Measure linked to the asset
Repair, renovation or replacement, with owner and status. The measure stays attached to the asset, even if it gets pushed back to a later budget round.
Multi-year planning that keeps pace
Deferred work doesn't disappear; it shifts visibly, with the assessment behind it.
Importing and exchanging with what already exists
Inspection files, the asset management package and the mapping system connect through integrations, so the network is managed in one place.
Who we build for
Who manages the network determines where the focus lies. Four situations.
Municipalities and water boards
A large network, changing contractors and a budget set annually. The gain lies in the justification: why this pipe now and that one later. The work below ground itself belongs to civil engineering and infrastructure software.
Inspection and cleaning companies
You deliver the observations and are paid for how usable they are. The fieldwork happens in the sewer app; here it is about what you deliver and can later retrieve.
Engineering and consultancy firms
You assess for clients who each set their own thresholds. A separate table per client saves working out each time how their classes were established. See also audit software.
Sites with their own system
Industrial estates, campuses and property portfolios with drainage beyond the property boundary. There is no municipal water department, but the same question arises when something needs doing. If it concerns water treatment, see water engineering.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
The classification methodology has been revised and will be revised again. Everything related to coding, classes and thresholds should be configurable.
For exchanging sewer data according to the standard, see our page on GWSW integration.
For gully cleaning, with routes for the vacuum tanker and registration per gully, see our gully cleaning and route planning app.
Why Appfront
Observation and class remain separate
We keep the observation as recorded and the class as derived. If you revise your methodology, you reclassify the entire series.
Your thresholds belong in the system
Because the thresholds are not standardised, you define them yourself. We make them explicit, so a judgement remains traceable when the manager changes.
Deferral stays visible
Work that gets pushed back disappears from view in many files. We keep it in place, with the assessment beneath it, because that is what a next round needs.
We don't set your ambition
Which condition you consider acceptable is a policy decision for your board. We build the record that lets you justify and sustain that choice.
Security and privacy
A sewer file maps what lies beneath the street and where it is in poor condition, including critical assets such as pumping stations and overflows. We set access by role and by area, give a contractor only their own assignment and period, and log every view.
The durability of the classification is the second point. A grade that can be quietly changed after the fact makes a multi-year plan indefensible as soon as a question is raised. We record observations, assigned grades and the criteria used, with time, source and person, and make any reclassification a visible event with a reason attached. How we ourselves handle security is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside come in through our CVD policy.
Frequently asked questions about sewer management
Both were withdrawn on 28 January 2020. What now applies is NEN-EN 13508-1 for the general requirements and NEN-EN 13508-2 for the coding, in the Netherlands the edition with the national annex from 2021. The classification methodology itself has since been set out in a publication by Stichting RIONED. We build on that coding and keep the tables adjustable.
Because that step has been decoupled from inspection since January 2020. RIONED puts it this way: inspectors record in detail what they observe, and it is then up to asset managers to apply the classification. An observation therefore remains usable if your methodology changes, but there has to be software that carries out that application.
Nobody prescribes them. RIONED provides an example set and states explicitly that these are not formally established or standardised criteria, and that each asset manager determines for themselves which threshold values to apply. We build the place where you record that choice; the choice itself you make with your adviser.
Article 4.22 of the Environmental Management Act, which made the municipal sewerage plan mandatory, lapsed on 1 January 2024. Under the Environment and Planning Act, the sewerage programme is among the optional programmes: the executive board may adopt such a programme. The duties under article 2.16 remain in force. Whether you record one is a choice for your council; discuss that with your legal advisers.
That covers projects in civil and infrastructure engineering: specifications, costing, execution and final costing. See GWW and infrastructure software. This page is about the asset management file alongside it: the asset stock, its condition and the plan that follows from it. The two meet as soon as a measure becomes a project.
Yes, and that is usually the first gain. As long as the observations are supplied according to NEN-EN 13508-2, they land on the same asset and in the same series. Differences in coding we expose rather than silently translate, because that is where series become incomparable.
Yes, as an asset with its own maintenance and fault history. Note, however: the coding in NEN-EN 13508-2 applies to external sewers under gravity flow, so for a pumping station there is no classification table to fall back on. The round of the pumping stations is covered by the sewer app; for a broader maintenance rhythm, see maintenance software.
That depends on the size of your asset base, whether files and an existing management package need to be imported, and what your classification table looks like. The object register with inspection history is usually quick to get working; integrations cost more. We provide a reasoned estimate after the discovery phase.
Want to know whether your register can bear an investment?
Look up one pipe run whose replacement you have postponed and check whether the grade, the observation beneath it and the criterion you applied are all listed alongside it. That is the question that comes back as soon as the budget is discussed. We build this as a standalone application and as part of a broader custom software project.