Modernizing the Way Cities See Water

Storm water infrastructure has fallen far behind the pace of modern technology. While nearly every other field has advanced with automation, sensors, and data analytics, the way cities manage storm water still depends on manual inspections, citizen reports, and surface clues. The truth is that most cities have no idea what is happening underground until it becomes a problem.

Runoff Systems was founded to change that. Our goal is to give cities the ability to see and understand their storm drain networks in real time, so they can act before flooding happens. We are developing a family of monitoring devices and software that can turn storm drains into a connected system that reacts and reports automatically.

Where We Are Now

Runoff Systems is still in the early stages of development. The company is being built from the ground up, and much of what is shown here is a concept in progress. Nothing is final, and we are continuing to refine our designs, run calculations, and prepare for prototype development once we secure funding.

We are a small team of two founders with complementary experience. One brings over four years of hands-on work in the public sector, including storm and sanitary engineering, meter monitoring, and data analysis for water, gas, and electricity systems. The other is a physicist and a graduate student in quantum computing, focused on the mathematics and physics behind flow rate modeling, sensor precision, and environmental data interpretation.

Together, we combine technical understanding with real-world municipal experience to solve a problem that has been ignored for far too long.

The Vision

Cities should be able to understand their underground systems as clearly as their surface ones. Our approach brings modern sensing and analytics to a part of infrastructure that has barely changed in decades.

Our first lineup will include three main products:

• Core Sensor Node: a compact, battery or solar powered sensor for inlet-level monitoring.
• Vision Node: a camera-equipped device for deeper or more complex structures such as junctions and outfalls.
• Monitoring Dashboard: a cloud-based system that collects, displays, and analyzes all incoming data in real time.

Together, these tools form an adaptive network that can warn of flooding, optimize maintenance routes, and automatically generate compliance documentation for environmental standards.

Why It Matters

Urban flooding is one of the most expensive and increasing problems in the United States. Between $180 and $496 billion is lost every year to flood damage, and most of it is preventable. Across 3.5 million miles of storm sewers and 270 million drains, cities have little to no data on what is happening in real time.

Storm water management should not depend on guesswork. It should depend on information. Runoff Systems aims to bring that information to every inlet, every outfall, and every decision that affects how cities handle runoff and pollution.

Looking Ahead

We have developed solid concepts and design plans for our products, and our next steps involve moving from design to implementation. Before we can begin field testing, we need to complete the necessary groundwork. Stuff like paperwork, processing, and permitting to ensure everything meets municipal and regulatory standards.

Our goal is to take these designs from concept to deployment as efficiently and responsibly as possible. Each step brings us closer to building city-scale monitoring networks that are reliable, easy to install, and fully compatible with existing GIS and asset management systems.

Runoff Systems is still a small and growing company, but our direction is clear. We know that better visibility into stormwater systems can save cities time, reduce costs, and strengthen resilience against flooding.

If you are interested in supporting or collaborating with us as we move toward pilot testing and early deployment, we would be glad to connect.