As water utilities migrate toward remote system monitoring and real-time control, the risks associated with cybersecurity tick upward as well. While the rewards of digitalization offer real promise, the associated complexity and security concerns pose corresponding risks. That is why it is important to have an overall risk-management process for the organizational level, the business process level, and for the information system and data levels as well.
In water plant operations, there’s no such thing as simply maintaining the status quo. Any utility that is not moving forward is falling behind. Whether a water treatment or wastewater treatment plant (WTP/WWTP) chooses to rely on in-house resources or outside specialists, here are some lifecycle management approaches they can use to upgrade control capabilities without compromising performance or return on investment.
While the laws of physics and chemistry have not changed, the ways that water and wastewater treatment plants (WTPs/WWTPs) are being forced to deal with them certainly have — e.g., disinfection byproducts (DBPs), tighter turbidity standards, harmful algal blooms, and PFAS challenges. Even when plant throughput stays the same, the demands on plant personnel continue to increase. Here’s how evolving toward better workforce management processes can help.
When it becomes necessary to expand or blend water supply sources, variety is not necessarily the spice of life. Whether new water sources are surface water or groundwater, fresh, brackish, seawater, or water recovered from aquifer storage, they can ultimately impact water treatment plant (WTP) operations and finished water quality — including compliance with the U.S. EPA Lead and Copper Rule.
Using historical data and Seeq analytical software, Nukon calculates when sewer blockages will occur up to 13 hours before occurrence, preventing spills.
From data to knowledge to transformation
Move from complexity to simplicity, from asset and process intelligence to operational intelligence with the PI System. Its highly scalable, open data infrastructure empowers enterprises in real time, transforming operational data into actionable knowledge and business transformation.
ABB uses digital solutions to drive outcomes. Engaging customers to demonstrate tangible results that scale.
The new generation of ABB’s total plant automation: DCS and SCADA for the power and water industries.
Reduced operational costs and downtime through seamless distributed control system integration.
Real-time control of a 360km water distribution system through an advanced distributed control system.
As water and wastewater treatment plant (WTP/WWTP) processes and control systems become more sophisticated, maximizing operator effectiveness becomes more complex as well. A well-planned alarm and control strategy can make a significant difference between valuable decision-making information and confusing, disjointed, data points. This article highlights key strategies for foreseeing problems in advance, fixing them faster, and having a higher success rate by maximizing operator effectiveness.
In water plant operations, there’s no such thing as simply maintaining the status quo. Any utility that is not moving forward is falling behind. Whether a water treatment or wastewater treatment plant (WTP/WWTP) chooses to rely on in-house resources or outside specialists, here are some lifecycle management approaches they can use to upgrade control capabilities without compromising performance or return on investment.
A Q&A with Berkeley Lab hydrological science expert Bhavna Arora, who explains how unseasonably warm weather and drought can affect water quality
While the laws of physics and chemistry have not changed, the ways that water and wastewater treatment plants (WTPs/WWTPs) are being forced to deal with them certainly have — e.g., disinfection byproducts (DBPs), tighter turbidity standards, harmful algal blooms, and PFAS challenges. Even when plant throughput stays the same, the demands on plant personnel continue to increase. Here’s how evolving toward better workforce management processes can help.
The history of commercial online transactions is riddled with horror stories about data security breaches. Think Equifax, Target, Yahoo, Uber, Sony PlayStation … the list goes on. How can a utility maximize the benefits advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) offers for more efficient data collection and management, without having to worry about seeing its name on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper?
Evoqua Water Technologies, an industry leader in mission critical water treatment solutions, recently announced the national launch of its optimized Water One service platform, which enables customers to outsource their water treatment systems and focus on their core business, while Evoqua manages the operation and maintenance of customers’ water treatment systems.
High humidity causes numerous problems inside water treatment plants, but it’s most prominent in Midwest facilities for one reason: groundwater.
Utilis will host their second Innovation Summit in San Diego, bringing together water industry professionals from around the world to talk about satellite leak detection from November 26-28th at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel.
The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) today released a new report examining the impact of plastic PVC pipes on human health and the environment.
Anglian Water has awarded one of the first framework contracts of AMP7 to leak detection specialist Primayer. The £40M agreement for leak detection products has been awarded jointly to 10 suppliers and will ensure the utility has access to as wide a selection of equipment as possible.
A new type of cellulose nanoparticle, invented by McGill University researchers, is at the heart of a more effective and less environmentally damaging solution to one of the biggest challenges facing water-based industries: preventing the buildup of scale.
In preparation for the 2019 Price Review (PR19), Bristol Water has successfully optimised its asset planning and operational improvements for both cost and performance efficiency using a temporary cloud version of Servelec Technologies’ decision support software PIONEER and the water company doesn’t intend to stop there.
Corrosion takes a costly toll on water plants each year, but one simple solution can save thousands of dollars in time and resources: Controlling humidity.
The expansion and upgrade of the Vredenburg wastewater treatment works in the Western Cape province of South Africa, completed in October 2018, needed an economical and reliable waterproofing solution.
Brown and Caldwell, a leading environmental engineering and construction firm, recently announced the launch of BC Blue, a smart utility approach to efficiently manage and operate water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities.
