With the expectation on water companies to become more proactive in their network management, failure to act on the stream of data coming into control rooms and align with recognised industry standards can have far reaching consequences.

Control rooms are a 24/7 central point for water and wastewater operational information, and the hub for incident and crisis management. UK water utilities receive between 40-60,000 alarms from SCADA systems per quarter, on average. During a major event such as a storm, this can be significantly higher.

If an alarm is not actioned and subsequently leads to an event, such as pollution or a tap water quality issue, there could be serious penalties from regulators, impacting on targets, performance league tables and customer satisfaction, and potentially leading to fines or prosecutions.

In March 2021, Defra announced plans to bring in legislation to reduce sewage discharges by water companies into rivers. This adds to the mounting pressure already on water companies, including an Environment Agency expectation for zero pollution events and stretching Ofwat targets for supply interruptions, bursts, leakage and sewer flooding in AMP7 (asset management period 2020-25).

The need to embed data-driven technology into business-as-usual practices is well recognised, with Ofwat in December 2020 reporting “there is scope for water companies to deliver increased productivity and efficiency by taking advantage of Big Data and technological improvements”. But while some companies are making steady progress in achieving proactive network management, the rising pressures on control rooms confirms the need for better management of alarm systems.

Collaborative workshops with UK utilities have resulted in AlarmVision, a new cloud-based, real-time dashboard, which aligns to recognised global alarm management standards, the Engineering Equipment & Materials Users Association guidance (EEMUA191) and the International Society of Automation standard (ISA18.2).

Client feedback very much shaped the functionality of AlarmVision, which provides teams with situational awareness to effectively manage telemetry alarms. The software analyses the stream of alarms that come from a customer’s telemetry system.

Dashboards give a measure of control over alarms, based on key performance indicators EEMUA191 and ISA18.2 and allow action to be taken to help operators maintain or gain control. The ability to gain real-time or backwards-looking analysis of how the control room is operating against both standards gives insight into whether the control room is at risk of missing critical alarms.

Operators can also identify the root cause of the largest proportion of alarms being generated on their system – for example, a faulty pump at a site could be causing 10% of total alarms on a given day. This gives water companies and municipalities insight that they can action to prioritise resources, reduce the number of alarms, and understand pattern analysis on when these alarms are occurring.

The alarm history from the customer system is mirrored in the AlarmVision cloud platform and results are presented in a real-time, enabling proactive action where necessary. It also shows clearly whether works scheduling matches alarm activity and provides a way to identify most frequent alarms and those that are troublesome. Analysing data to understand which recurring alarms are taking up valuable operator time means the root cause can be fixed and the problem alarm removed.

AlarmVision signals a new direction for Ovarro and reflects the changing needs of water companies globally, as they transition to meet unprecedented challenges arising from climate change, more intense weather events and population growth. Now is the time for the sector to fully harness the technology and the data that is available to meet these demands.

More information about AlarmVision can be found at: Ovarro.com/AlarmVision

MWH Treatment (MWHT), together with partner Galliford Try, has successfully secured a six-year contract extension on Scottish Water’s non-infrastructure framework for the Strategic Review 2021-27 (SR21) investment programme.

MWHT, a sector leading solution provider operating across the UK water industry, will be working in a 50:50 joint venture with construction group Galliford Try to deliver a £700 million water and wastewater non-infrastructure programme between April 2021 to March 2027.

The six-year contract will see MWHT employees working with Galliford Try to support the capital delivery functions of Scottish Water, providing process design and build solutions for water and wastewater treatment works across Scotland.

“We have been working in collaboration with Scottish Water since 2015 and there is clear advantage to building on our ongoing partnership, especially as it continues to move towards an even greater level of strategic maturity and alignment,” says Mark Allan, MWHT’s director of UK operations.

“This contract extension will provide even greater value for customers, collectively utilising our digital strategy to drive efficiency in all stages of customer engagement, solution development and end user experience. We will be increasing efficiency whilst reducing both cost and time, whilst also benefitting the environment as we collaborate with Scottish Water in its drive to zero carbon.

“We are proud to continue working closely with Scottish Water to ensure delivery of resilient, reliable clean and wastewater services to its customers across Scotland.”

Every day Scottish Water delivers 1.4 billion litres of drinking water, and removes, treats and returns around 1 billion litres of wastewater safely to the environment - serving 2.56 million households and more than 152,000 businesses premises.

MWHT currently works in a joint venture partnership with Galliford Try and Binnies called ESD (Efficient Service Delivery) that was formed to develop, design, manage and deliver Scottish Water’s Quality and Standards IV (Q&SIV) SR15 non-infrastructure programme.

“This award is a fantastic achievement and reflects the commitment and dedication of our talented people in Scotland and across our business. MWH Treatment is in a strong position to support Scottish Water in their investment programme, extending the relationship up to 2027,” said Paul Bresnan, managing director at MWHT.

It is a fully integrated joint venture, combining the experience, expertise, people and systems of the partners, to form a single integrated team delivering as ESD. The current SR15 portfolio is £550 million spanning six years. ESD will have delivered over 150 projects for Scottish Water by the end of this period.

Throughout SR21 the water sector is stepping forward to respond to the increasing challenges from climate change, population growth, and increasing customer expectations, while improving affordability of an essential service.

“To continue working with Scottish Water demonstrates that we remain a partner of choice. With our proven capacity, capability and existing relationship with Scottish Water we are ready to take on the challenge of the SR21 regulatory programme. Working together with Galliford Try we will take on this challenge with pace, productivity and programme intensity,” added Bresnan.

https://mwhtreatment.com

Automating processes helps reduce friction across the value chain by removing manual processes such as re-keying. By combining the power of RPA and low-code, water companies can transform business processes and improve efficiency, fast. It can be used to improve all kinds of processes, including data entry, customer surveys and automated payment support.

Join our 30-minute webinar, to learn more as we explore how intelligent automation enables innovation and process improvement, without ripping out legacy infrastructure.

Join our next session on Friday 26th March at 10:30am

We’ll take a quick tour through the how and why. We’ll discover:

• Why intelligent automation is transforming process automation and CX
• Who can use intelligent automation
• How IT and the business can work together to build better processes
  

So, whether you’re new to automation or have a specific problem to solve, we share our intelligent automation tools, Liberty Create and Liberty RPA. You’ll even see a sneak-peek of the solution in action.

Register here
https://www.netcall.com/events/all-about-intelligent-automation-webinar/

Water filter manufacturer Amazon Filters has made a series of strategic hires to strengthen and grow its services for customers in process engineering industries including municipal water.

The Surrey-headquartered firm has appointed five new recruits in departments dealing with filter housing operations and fabrication, product design and development, IT and despatch.



The move complements a continuing programme of investment in ‘quick and able’ manufacturing capacity and facilities at the company’s Camberley production centre.



Senior operations professional Andy Manning is Amazon Filters’ new Housing Operations Manager, responsible for teams working on standard, customised and bespoke products and filtration packages.



He has more than 25 years’ experience in process plant industries, most recently with the UK arm of a global oil and gas equipment and components supplier.



Among Andy’s specialisms were the provision of hardware and consultancy services for oil separation and produced water systems.



His previous roles included being a service operations manager for a UK water treatment supplier, where he managed a team of 30 service engineers.



Andy said: “I am thrilled to be on board to help Amazon Filters build on its continued success as a leading filter manufacturer.



“It’s brilliant to see the investment that the company is making in its people, services and facilities, especially given the current impact of the pandemic on all kinds of industries, and I’m keen to play my part in its growth.”



Daniel O’Sullivan, appointed Housing Fabrication Team Leader, has extensive experience in industrial engineering having worked in the welding and sheet metal industry for more than 18 years.



He was most recently a Team Supervisor after successive promotions at a south east engineering firm.



Daniel said: “I made my way up through the ranks and felt the need for change. I’m excited to have the opportunity to work at Amazon Filters.



“On arrival here, I could see it had a friendly, professional and positive atmosphere and that instantly put me at ease.



“From top to bottom I have been met with positivity, a willingness to help and a great team to advise and help grow as a unit.”



To strengthen its design department, Amazon Filters has appointed Ian Haffenden as Product Development Design Engineer.



Ian’s responsibilities include taking conceptual proposals for filter housings and components through to implementation.



At the same time, the company’s IT team has been bolstered with the arrival of Norman Fider as Desktop Support.



Reporting directly to Head of IT Adam Witherington, Norman will help manage and maintain the hardware and software underpinning critical business applications.



Adam said: “Norman’s appointment puts us in a position to further realise our longer-term IT strategies.”



Joining Amazon Filters’ busy despatch department is Despatch Team Member Callum Henry.



He will share in team responsibility for all picking and packing of finished goods for despatch, with further duties in stock control and maintaining a newly upgraded traceability system.



Neil Pizzey, Amazon Filters Managing Director, said: “We very much welcome Andy, Daniel, Ian, Norman and Callum as our five great new hires.



“Their skills and knowledge will make a vital contribution as we move forward with our growth strategy and services for core sectors including municipal water, oil and gas, chemicals and coatings, and healthcare.



“This is all about stimulating and delivering continued growth and being more competitive, more flexible and more responsive for new and existing customers here in the UK and overseas.”

A next-generation water recycling system, unveiled by water infrastructure systems specialist SDS, is promising to boost business sector efforts to save water by offering significantly improved investment returns for commercial developers and operators.



The SDS GWOD uses a state-of-the-art ultrafiltration technology, unique to the UK, together with smart controls, to deliver a space-saving, low-energy and responsive water reuse system, for commercial buildings, hotels and leisure centres.



The SDS Greywater on Demand (GWOD) system is set to be a flagship technology of the company’s water reuse product range. It is also one of the first to be equipped with SDS’s SYMBiotICTM automated smart controls incorporating cloud-based monitoring to ensure that process performance is optimised.



The GWOD’s small footprint, together with its ability to provide, on-demand, quality recycled water whenever needed, makes it capable of significantly improved investment payback when compared to conventional Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) greywater systems, especially for larger-scale systems, SDS water recycling specialist Kevin Reed explains:



“In the past, MBR systems have tended to be the technology of choice. Our ultrafiltration system typically processes water at about 2m3 per hour per filter, compared to an MBR system which processes at about 4m3 per day per membrane. As a result of the faster treatment, the storage volume, and therefore the tank size, is considerably smaller than for a typical MBR system.



“Using ultrafiltration also makes the system responsive to demand at peak times. Unlike MBR, our system does not depend on having to build up a biomass of bacteria for peak operation. High quality water is available immediately on start up. This also means that the system can be shut down when not in use, for example in an office block at weekends or holidays. In this way the system saves energy, too.”



The SDS Greywater on Demand system can pay back in as little as seven years, although actual return on investment will depend on the size of the system and the local Water Company charges. SDS offers a full design and installation service to support Public Health Engineers, developers and commercial operators and ensure correct system sizing for maximum savings.



In the GWOD system, greywater is collected and then pumped through a disk pre-filter system and dosed with a small amount of chlorine before entering the ultrafilters. The treated water is then stored, ready for use, in a separate tank and pumped, as needed, around the building.



The GWOD’s ultrafiltration system is a highly-efficient membrane with automated integral backwash, that delivers treated water to near drinking water standards. The compact design can be adapted to add as many ultrafilters as required to deliver the amount of recycled water needed to service the building.



When combined with SDS’s smart SYMBiotICTM cloud-based data monitoring and control, SDS GWOD can be configured to provide real-time performance measures, condition monitoring with alarms and alerts, as well as trend mapping to aid with preventative maintenance. Regular reports of water saving performance can also be output.



Greywater is waste water, for example, from baths, showers and handbasins, that can be filtered, treated and then reused for non-drinking purposes such as toilet flushing, laundry or garden irrigation. The principle is already being widely adopted, especially by hotels and large office blocks. In London, where planning laws encourage water recycling, up to 20% of new buildings include greywater reuse systems.



Reed continues:

“With the impact of climate change, increased periods of drought and water stress are predicted. So, it will be imperative for sustainable buildings to adapt and install water saving measures as standard. Up to 60% of the water used in commercial buildings, such as office blocks or hotels, is highly-treated drinking water that is used, wastefully, to flush toilets or irrigate gardens, where the level of treatment is simply not needed. More cost-efficient reuse of water will benefit water companies by decreasing the demand on an already stressed supply network.”



“Any technology must first demonstrate it is commercially viable, before its environmental benefits can be exploited. New technologies like ultrafiltration and smart controls can lead the change, by making water reuse systems more accessible and attractive commercially.”



The launch of the SDS Greywater on Demand system follows on from the company’s acquisition of the water recycling business of established industry leader Waterscan in 2019.



For more information visit www.sdslimited.com.