NHR is highlighting an NB-IoT manhole monitoring deployment for a municipal drainage authority in China, surfacing underground water rise before street flooding takes shape while tracking cover status across high-risk zones.
Bringing the underground into view
Most of a drainage network lies hidden beneath the road, and during heavy rain sewer levels surge faster than manual inspection can track — the authority often learned the network was saturated only after water was already standing on the street, and displaced or improperly opened covers had essentially no detection at all.
The NHR solution deploys H01 non-contact radar liquid-level sensors in stormwater and sewer manholes across high-risk drainage zones. Mounted beneath the cover, the H01 measures shaft water level and includes motion detection for cover displacement, with IP68 protection and an industrial-grade battery built for long service underground. Data travels over NB-IoT to a cloud platform integrated with a GIS map, and alerts fire automatically when water passes warning thresholds.
From mobilizing after complaints to acting on alerts
Awareness of abnormal events moved from passive reporting to real-time system alerts — rising water is seen before street flooding forms, and cover anomalies are handled immediately. Routine inspection hours fell by roughly thirty percent, with crews concentrated on alerted points and high-risk segments.
The continuous record of levels and events also puts desilting schedules and flood preparedness on firmer ground, moving drainage management toward a data-driven routine.