Water & Wastewater Treatment

4 | SMART WATER NETWORKS 2018 Smart technology required for step change in performance SMART WATER NETWORKS 2018 T he coming PR19 price review will see water companies commit to some demanding performance targets – one of the foremost among them being leakage reduction. As with any business activity where improvement is required, this presents a question about whether utilities can reach their targets merely by wringing extra efficiencies out of their ex- isting operations, or whether they need to embrace more fundamental change and look for smarter, more innovative ways of doing things. Creating a truly 'smart' water network, in which information from across the network is quickly relayed, analysed and informs actions to improve operations in real time, is the type of thinking that would certainly embody the latter ap- proach, as it would represent a true sea change that would improve performance. Water company performance metrics – whether it be leakage, supply inter- ruptions, pollution incidents or sewer flooding – can only be partially improved by the reactive strategy of tackling such problems when they occur. The real gains To meet ambitious PR19 targets water companies will need to think big and invest in smart solutions for the entire network By James Brockett come from being proactive, going on the front foot to anticipate and prevent issues that are yet to develop – and this is ex- actly where smart technology can assist. The first step towards a smarter approach is placing information-gath- ering technology of various kinds in the network: examples include meters (at customer and district level), pressure and level monitors, acoustic loggers and water quality monitors. Sensing technology has a primary role in letting the opera- tor know what is going on, and when combined with telemetry and adequate communications, alerts can be set up so that a water control room is aware of an issue before customers become aware and complain. Examples of leading-edge technology that gathers information can be found throughout these pages: ATi, for example, (see p6) produce MetriNet, a turbidity monitor that can provide an early warning of water discolouration that is likely to lead to customer complaints. The true value of smart networks, however, lies not just in the immediate Caption

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