Water & Wastewater Treatment

SMART WATER NETWORKS 2018 | 13 W ith PR19 in full swing and AMP 7 on the horizon, Water utilities are zeroing in on the future of water, its challenges and more importantly the solutions available. The key drivers for PR19 are supply resilience, great customer ser- vice and a• ordable customer bills, and to achieve these outcomes the utilities will need to adopt new technolo- gies to drive innovation. As a result, the utility industry is searching for a smart solu- tion. So what does Smart encap- sulate? Essentially it is a way of breathing life into utility networks. It is information, insight and foresight. Ena- bling a water network to be Smart means that the utility is able to have full visibility of pressure changes, leaks, meter alarms and quality of the water. Smart allows a util- ity to act in the most e„ cient way possible as a supplier and a business. The Smart technology market is a competitive one, which has resulted in a selec- tion of technology suppliers throwing their hats into the ring to form part of the utility industry revolution. However, what utilities need to keep in mind when choosing their Smart supplier is that the networks they run are part of an average of 15% less water. Critical national infrastruc- tures need to be reliable and for this, a technology that is designed and tailored to the water industry is a must. For a network to function intelli- gently, it needs to be a secure and proven solution that can provide timely, accurate and actionable information from every Smart point, whenever and wherever the utility and its customers need it. O‹ en the only way to guarantee this type of secure and reliable data transmission, is through a dedicated network, as op- posed to a shared infrastruc- ture. For utilities tasked with managing and safeguarding today's access to clean water for the future, the numbers speak for themselves: there is a predicted shortfall of water supply by 2040, across the UK, and it is the responsibility of the utilities to act in a pro- active manner. For too many years 'reaction' to customer side leakage and burst mains that can culminate in severe disruption to the network, (as was seen recently by the "Beast from the East"), has been the only form of action from water utilities. Tried and tested innovative technology exists and it is now up to the water industry to make the smartest choice. Contacts: Colin Eagle, Adam Parsonnage Sensus, Fifth Floor, 210 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7DL Phone: 07540 081773 E-mail: contactemea@xyleminc.com Web: www.sensus.com SMART WATER NETWORKS 2018 Making smart choices to shape a sustainable ture critical national infrastruc- tures; choosing to partner with a company that does not have extensive experience is a decision that will always bring with it unnecessary risk – and more so when consid- ering the importance of the networks at hand. The commercial potential of o• ering Smart networks for utilities is abundantly obvi- ous in more ways than one, but there is a lot to be said for partnering with companies that have perfected their ex- perience in one ¡ eld to ensure the best delivery within it. Thames Water chose to begin its Smart Water journey with Sensus and Arqiva a‹ er a suc- cessful three year trial, and initial results showed that its customers were consuming "Smart is a way of breathing life into utility networks... it is information, insight and foresight... smart allows a utility to act in the most effi cient way possible as a supplier and a business."

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