“City Badge of Han River” series of manhole covers are designed to tell a good story of Wuhan

“City badge of Han River” series manhole covers are co-designed by Wuhan Water Group with teachers and students from Wuhan University, and produced by Hanshui Technology of Wuhan Water Group.

“We hope to show the city’s culture and tell a good story of Wuhan’s development through the small manhole cover”,

said the project leader from Hanshui Technology.

Before starting the designing in August 2021, the team has examined the concepts of cultural manhole cover from many other cities in China, and finally decided to integrate the corporate culture of “Century Wuhan Water Group” with the unique geographical conditions, landmark buildings and historical culture of Wuhan’s three towns, two rivers and four riverbanks.

The “Han River” series of cultural manhole covers are made of ductile iron, copper and other materials. The surface patterns of the manhole covers are divided into color version and copper version. They are installed in the area where the corresponding landmarks are located, putting the tourists, manhole covers and landmarks within one scene.

A QR code is designed on the surface of each manhole cover. After scanning with a phone, you can see the stories of the corresponding landmark buildings, as well as information of underground water supply facilities and water supply services. The application of the QR code of the manhole cover gives the manhole cover more information functions. When scanning the QR code with professional APPs, property owners can know the geographic information code, the construction time of the manhole cover node, the condition of the underground equipment, and the pipeline facilities, which makes their maintenance work more convenient.

At present, a batch of  manhole covers of the “City Badge of Han River” series have been laid on the road, and more are on the way. Small manhole covers can be turned into “works of art”, showing the cultural features of Wuhan and its city image.