Beyond the existential philosophy implications, the consequences of a pipeline leaking in a forest when no one is around highlight the desirability of leak detection systems in water distribution utilities as a whole. As the following experiences show, leak detection can have its entertaining side. On the other side of the coin, however, the consequences of not monitoring leaks can also trigger a tsunami of costs far beyond the expense of pipeline repair alone.
Most people accept that major purchases in life — e.g., housing, automobiles, appliances — come with cyclical budgeting impacts that require amortizing costs over the long term, through savings or borrowing. Why should anyone expect the national water infrastructure to be any different?
Water treatment plant (WTP) and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operators are increasingly supporting better decision-making by leveraging digitalization capabilities available through instrumentation and plant management systems. Successful adoption of digitalization starts with identifying the right balance of tools (i.e., web-networked instrumentation) and systems (i.e., analytical data management software). Maximizing the value, however, is as much about exercising a mind-set of efficiency as it is about tracking raw numbers.
As industries expand, they typically need to increase the capacity of their wastewater treatment facilities. Increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, such as lower nitrogen limits, may also signal the need to boost treatment capacity. Installing additional tanks and larger equipment not only adds capital costs but increases operating costs as well.
From the largest metropolitan water treatment plant (WTP) or wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operations to the smallest rural systems, the goals are essentially the same — achieve regulatory compliance and the most efficient results at the lowest practical cost. The most feasible (i.e., affordable) control solutions vary by process, plant size, and budgetary limitations. Here are several high-level guidelines to achieving a common strategy that works across virtually all applications: good data, properly analyzed, yields good results.
In an industry faced with around-the-clock operations and penalties for noncompliance with regulatory standards, it can be easy to lose track of periodic maintenance requirements whose impacts might not be noticeable until it’s too late. Ignoring the influence that measurement and analytic equipment maintenance can have on water treatment plants (WTPs) or wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can be costly. Fortunately, equipment suppliers who bundle after-sale services tailored to WTP and WWTP needs offer new opportunities for instrumentation users to stay ahead of the curve in terms of timely response to changing performance.
Just as different water utilities use different processes for turning raw source water into potable drinking water, so too do they take different routes to account for, and bill for, their output. Here is an overview of a cellular-based approach to collecting and leveraging data from water distribution operations that can achieve the greatest business advantage.
There are many types of water meters being used across the U.S. to measure water consumption. And even though the panacea for a water utility would be to equip each residence with the same meter — standardizing metering technique, data capture and maintenance — the reality is that a utility needs to be able to read and service the variety of meters that make up its metering portfolio.
This heated debate continues to rage on in boardrooms, online forums, and tradeshow floors around the world. It pits SCADA teams, seeking to maximize system uptime, against IT departments, working to keep their systems secure. What follows is a very brief overview of why water and wastewater utilities choose to allow remote access and what steps should be taken to minimize the risk.
As capacity requirements change and grow, it is essential to have agility when modeling system expansions and their potential impacts on current collections assets. How can wastewater management systems be modeled to address all current and future hydraulic capacity needs?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|