As Midwest states struggled with record spring flooding this year, the Southwest was wrestling with the opposite problem: not enough water. On May 20, 2019, federal officials and leaders from seven states signed the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan, a sweeping new water management agreement for this arid region.
As digitalization continues to grow in the water and wastewater industry, cybersecurity becomes an increasingly important responsibility.
Whether it’s called “digital water” or “smart water,” data is flexing its muscle in industry’s quest for resiliency and asset management.
Mapping the assets of a water treatment, water distribution, or wastewater collection and treatment system is just the means to an end. Maximizing value from that effort requires systematic planning and a healthy curiosity for looking into patterns of activity. Here are some considerations for turning raw asset data into more valuable benchmarks for better decision-making across multiple aspects of water operations.
Recent natural disasters and emergency events that impact utility operations run the gamut from windy, rainy, and frigid weather to wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Fortunately, an often-underutilized aspect of “smart water” technology extending far beyond automated meter reading and billing holds promise for community-wide resilience in the face of such disruptive events.
Efficiently service and maintain intelligent field devices
Field devices are the eyes and ears of automation. The failure of a valve positioner, temperature, flow or pressure sensor can quickly lead to serious malfunction of the process. With SIMATIC PDM Maintenance Station V3.0, Siemens offers the right solution for efficiently monitoring the condition of smart field devices, irrespective of the automation and control systems used
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.
Improved water reliability and lifecycle costs through total control of a one hundred mile transfer system.
100% available water in the driest of deserts through highly efficient desalination.
When it comes to metering water flow — drinking water or wastewater — full-bore mag meters offer many advantages. While the underlying technology based on Faraday’s Law of electromagnetic induction is shared among all styles of full-bore mag meters, specific implementations have impacts on longevity and accuracy. Here is what to look for when the time to choose arrives.
Among utilities concerned about resilience and response in natural disasters or other emergencies, precise asset inventory and mapping are high priorities. In truth, there is value in having the same information for everyday purposes as well. For anyone who has ever had a problem locating or tracking key water or wastewater system assets, here are several good reasons and ways to avoid a last-minute scramble.
If a water utility is going to use digital communication to enhance the customer experience, it needs to ensure that it does so as seamlessly as possible.
When space is tight and straight-run piping is at a premium, V-Cone differential pressure (DP) meters are an excellent choice — especially where the potential for turbulence raises metering accuracy issues with other conventional meter styles. This article describes how to satisfy some challenging water infrastructure applications with V-Cone meter accuracy at a low permanent pressure loss.
Mapping the assets of a water treatment, water distribution, or wastewater collection and treatment system is just the means to an end. Maximizing value from that effort requires systematic planning and a healthy curiosity for looking into patterns of activity. Here are some considerations for turning raw asset data into more valuable benchmarks for better decision-making across multiple aspects of water operations.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), along with U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), led a bipartisan group of senators and representatives in unveiling a new, bipartisan and bicameral piece of legislation to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years while instituting a series of critical reforms to address the waste, abuse and mismanagement plaguing the system.
The duration of floods can be determined by river flow, precipitation and atmospheric blocking. Now an international team of researchers led by Nasser Najibi and Naresh Devineni at The City College of New York is offering a novel physically based Bayesian network model for inference and prediction of flood duration.
Xylem, a global water technology provider, announced an ambitious set of goals that advances the Company’s sustainability commitment across three fronts: serving its customers, building a sustainable company, and empowering communities through social impact initiatives.
Intelligent solutions coupled with concrete actions are key in Grundfos’ efforts to effectively impact the global water- and climate challenges.
Coastal communities in the contiguous U.S. face more than $400B in costs over the next 20 years, much of it sooner, to defend coastal communities from inevitable sea-level rise, according to a new report released recently by the Center for Climate Integrity in partnership with the engineering firm, Resilient Analytics.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee recently advanced bipartisan legislation written by U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA), co-founders of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, to improve the cybersecurity of Internet-connected devices.
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman announced that 18 projects will receive a total of $9M to prepare for drought. These projects will provide more flexibility and reliability for communities while reducing the need for emergency actions during a drought.
The UTSA College of Engineering has been selected to receive approximately $2.6M in City funding to complete three water sustainability projects in San Antonio.
A recent NOAA-led study found the speed of movement of tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, has been slowing in recent decades, with more storms lumbering slowly over land and potentially causing more flooding.
Many businesses may be confused where to start when it comes to looking at the carbon they are producing. With recent YouGov research revealing that 61% of C-suite executives have not set out a target to reduce their carbon emissions, Veolia, the UK’s leading environmental solutions provider, has launched a new web based platform for the UK that can evaluate the complete carbon and water use of business activities.
