Sewer Overflow Monitoring Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (142 records) with 2024 (75) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 3,579 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 3,579 published records matching sewer overflow monitoring and closely related combined-sewer-overflow detection technology, filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026. The scope spans sensor hardware for level and flow detection, data processing for overflow event calculation, and the wider water and wastewater infrastructure classes those sensors report into. Records are drawn from receiving offices including the United States, WIPO, Europe, Japan, Canada and Australia, giving a cross-jurisdiction view of where applicants are seeking protection.
The dataset is analysed at the patent family level in the assignee ranking, which neutralises the effect of continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates that can otherwise inflate a single applicant's apparent output. Filing counts in the most recent one to two years are understated because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months; treat 2025 and 2026 figures as provisional rather than a genuine drop-off.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 3,579-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the records fall into.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filing activity peaked at 188 records in 2017 and has trended down since; the 2021-to-2024 window shows a 47% decline from 142 to 75 records. 2024 is the last year that can be treated as complete — 2025 and 2026 figures will continue to fill in as publications catch up with filing dates.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
C02F (water and wastewater treatment) is the largest single class at 23.9% of all records, followed by B01D (separation and filtration) at 13.9% and E03F (sewerage) at 11.5%. Because a record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares sum to more than 100% of the 3,579 records in scope — the pattern shows most applicants position overflow monitoring within treatment or filtration claims rather than sewerage infrastructure alone.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,579 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Smart Water & Utility Infrastructure: Sewer Overflow Monitoring Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about smart water & utility infrastructure: sewer overflow monitoring patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative filing and the most-cited records
US20150019146A1 — Sewer overflow discharge monitoring system and method
A method and system for monitoring the performance of combined sewer overflow structures. The system uses sensors to track sewage level in the structure and the operation of valves, with a data processing unit that collects readings and calculates overflow event flow and gate valve performance. The design may be battery operated and can adaptively adjust sensor sampling time to extend battery life.Filed by Xylem Vue Inc., published 2015-01-15 — an early and structurally central filing in this dataset's core claim territory.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20080177994A1 | System and method for improving the efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability in Operating Systems, such as for… | 1,735 |
| 2 | US20070128899A1 | System and method for improving the efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability in Operating Systems, such as for… | 875 |
| 3 | US20160045841A1 | New and improved system for processing various chemicals and materials | 860 |
| 4 | US6119125A | Software components for a building automation system based on a standard object superclass | 342 |
| 5 | US20040236620A1 | Automated utility supply management system integrating data sources including geographic information systems … | 315 |
| 6 | US20100169392A1 | Virtual file-sharing network | 295 |
| 7 | US7305691B2 | System and method for providing targeted programming outside of the home | 279 |
| 8 | US20070103324A1 | Monitoring system and method | 276 |
| 9 | US20060174707A1 | Intelligent valve control methods and systems | 271 |
| 10 | US6099735A | Counter top reverse osmosis water purification system | 266 |
Citation counts favour older records that have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a marker of current technical relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for a filing decision
Four read-outs from the dataset that matter more for strategy than the raw counts alone.
Fragmented, not consolidated
The leading assignee holds 75 records out of 3,579 in scope, and the top 5 combined account for only 8.1% of all records. That is a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants rather than a field owned by a handful of incumbents, which lowers the freedom-to-operate risk of entering with a distinct sensing or data-processing approach.
Activity has cooled from its 2017 peak
Filing peaked at 188 records in 2017 and the 2021-to-2024 window shows a 47% decline from 142 to 75 records — the most recent complete comparison available. 2025 and 2026 counts will rise as publication catches up with filing, so the current apparent trough should not be read as the field's endpoint.
Most claims sit in treatment, not sewerage
C02F (water and wastewater treatment) covers 23.9% of the 3,579 records, roughly double the 11.5% in E03F (sewerage). Applicants more often frame overflow monitoring as an instrumentation layer on a treatment system than as a sewerage-specific invention, which affects where a novelty search should start.
Filing is mostly solo
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pairings cluster around a small group of individual inventors rather than corporate joint ventures. Co-filing is not the norm in this space, so competitive mapping should track individual assignees rather than expecting consortium-style filing clusters.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to smart water & utility infrastructure: sewer overflow monitoring patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a fragmented field with cooling recent filing activity and thinner coverage in a few adjacent branches. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, whitespace filing, or competitive monitoring.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the core claim
Before filing in the sensor-and-valve monitoring core, check the representative record and its closest citing family against your specific sensing or data-processing approach.
Explore prior art in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Battery-adaptive sampling and GIS-integrated overflow mapping show thinner density than the core treatment classes — worth a deeper novelty search before committing claim language.
Map white space in EurekaWatch the individual-inventor clusters
The strongest co-assignee pairs are individual inventors, not corporations — monitor these filers directly rather than relying on corporate-level competitive intelligence alone.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaCommon questions on sewer overflow monitoring patents
Within the 3,579 records in this dataset, the leading assignee holds 75 records, with the fifth-ranked assignee at 52 and the tenth at 28. No single company dominates: the top 5 combined account for only 8.1% of all records in scope, so the field is best described as fragmented rather than led by one or two majors. A freedom-to-operate review should therefore check a broad set of filers rather than focusing narrowly on the top-ranked assignee.
Filing peaked in 2017 at 188 records and has declined since, with the most recent complete comparison showing a 47% drop from 142 records in 2021 to 75 in 2024. Because patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a further decline. The honest read is a cooling trend through 2024, with the most recent years still an open question.
The largest IPC class in this dataset is C02F (water and wastewater treatment) at 23.9% of all 3,579 records, followed by B01D (separation and filtration processes) at 13.9% and E03F (sewerage) at 11.5%. Flow and level measurement (G01F) and material analysis (G01N) each cover a further single-digit share. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these figures add up to more than 100% of the total and should be read as overlapping coverage rather than a strict breakdown.
The under-claimed branches in this dataset include battery-life-adaptive sensor sampling, real-time gate-valve performance calculation, and GIS-integrated overflow event mapping — all narrower than the dominant treatment and sewerage classes. These sit adjacent to well-covered core claims like level and valve-state sensing, so a first claim here would need to specify the adaptive or integrative mechanism precisely to establish novelty. Given the field's fragmentation and modest top-5 concentration, a differentiated filing in one of these branches faces relatively low blocking risk from a single incumbent.
US20150019146A1, assigned to Xylem Vue Inc. and published in January 2015, covers a system and method for monitoring combined sewer overflow structures using level and valve-state sensors feeding a data processing unit that calculates overflow event flow, with an optional battery-operated and adaptive-sampling design. It is an early and structurally central filing in this dataset's core sensing-and-calculation claim territory. Anyone building a similar level-and-valve sensor architecture with flow calculation should review its specific claim scope closely, though the field's fragmentation suggests alternative architectures (different sensor types, data processing locations, or power strategies) remain open.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.