UTILITY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

• How Can We Take Climate Change Into Account When Designing Water & Wastewater Treatment Facilities?

  Scientists have long predicted that one of the impacts of climate change would be an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events and rising sea levels across the world. We are already seeing it happen across the USA and the world.

• Fairlie District Deploy Noise Loggers In New Zealand

  Installation was completed by Farilie District Council, a rural water authority located in the central South Island of New Zealand. With a number of water supplies in the South Canterbury region, they required the latest digital noise correlation and signal coherence frequency analysis processing software. The Enigma solution was chosen to overcome challenges such as limited recoding and process capabilities.

• Leak Detection In Nantes, France

  The water network management team in Nantes, France is responsible for maintaining supply from a highly complex system of underground water supply pipes. Constant road traffic and restricted access make monitoring, troubleshooting, and upgrading the water network exceptionally challenging. The La Dopea (Direction des Opérateurs Publics de l'Eau et de l'Assainissement) leakage team was tasked with assessing the supply to one particular area of the Nantes Metropole area. Initial investigations indicated substantial losses, but traditional leakage detection methods had failed to identify where these were. The business challenge was identifying and preventing these leaks.

• United Utilities Trunk Main Trial

  United Utilities supplies water to 3 million homes and 200,000 businesses in North West England. Within the Winscales and Scilly Banks service reservoir zones where the trial was to take place, local United Utilities NCI / NIA had previously split the main and quantified losses of 4 liters/sec and 2 liters/sec in the respective halves. Leak detection on trunk mains using correlation techniques has always had potentially limited success for reasons of poor sound propagation and scarcity of accessible fittings. The business challenge was to exceed these limitations, improve efficiency and reduce leakage.

• Abilene “Phocus” On Their Non-Revenue Water Program

  The State of Texas and the region around Abilene in particular has been experiencing an ongoing drought. Abilene takes the region’s need for adequate water supplies seriously and has been analyzing the short-term water needs (5-10years) as well as the long-term water needs (+50years) for its service area. The ongoing drought had pulled the three primary water supply reservoirs for the region down to extremely low levels. In the autumn of 2014: Lake OH Ivie was at 15% capacity; Hubbard Creek Reservoir was at 16% capacity; Lake Fort Phantom Hill was at 32% capacity.

• Leak Location On 11 Mains In The UK

  Leak location on large diameter mains is difficult because the pipe becomes more elastic as the ratio of pipe wall thickness to diameter increases. This results in more rapid absorption of leak energy into the pipe material, with resultant attenuation as distance from the leak increases.

• Immediate Results In Veolia Lyon, France

  Ten Enigma3m loggers were installed in less than two hours on sites located in the city of Lyon. The devices are equipped with a roaming SIM allowing the Enigma3M to select the best GSM network. Some holes were created in the chamber for fitting the aerial and optimizing the GSM data for transmission.

• Water Systems Must Change Their Financial Outlook. Here’s Where To Start.

  Rural utilities face a slew of challenges, with aging infrastructure being among the most pressing.

• Avoiding Misguided Pipeline Replacement Expenses

  Whichever the relevant adage — measure twice, cut once…a penny saved is a penny earned…look before you leap — the concept of being thoroughly prepared to minimize lost time, wasted money, or potential embarrassment is well founded. In water distribution pipelines, that means confirming actual pipeline conditions before investing in large-scale replacements. Here are some guidelines for avoiding unnecessary labor and expense in the process.

• Diversifying Water Sources With Potable Water Reuse

  As much of the Western U.S. navigates a historic drought, community leaders and water utilities are exploring innovative options to expand their water resource portfolios. One approach that is gaining traction is potable water reuse, a treatment process for returning wastewater to high-quality drinking water.