WAT E R OP E RATIONS A ND TR EATME N T
A safe sandpit for
THE WATER INDUSTRY
Finding the right scalable technology is crucial for the water industry to meet its challenges. Here’s how Intelligent Water Networks helps with this in Victoria.
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ater corporations face common challenges – aging infrastructure, changing climates and population growth. But with daily operational demands, it’s not easy to dedicate time and resources to find scalable technology to solve these challenges and provide better outcomes for corporations and customers. In Victoria, this is where Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) comes in. It represents 16 Victorian water corporations, acting as a collective safe sandpit for testing and trialling technology. IWN’s trials assess whether technology can solve common problems, drive business efficiencies and achieve better customer outcomes. It also runs Champions – a two-year leadership program – to develop tomorrow’s leaders for the water industry through professional development, coaching and mentoring. With IWN’s ten-year anniversary passing quietly in the blur of 2020, it’s time for an update. Here is a glimpse of IWN’s eight programs and what they are focusing on at the moment.
ASSET MANAGEMENT AND OPTIMISATION This program helps water corporations manage assets effectively and optimise performance with better tools and technologies. It is currently working on a PumpCheckR2 trial with five water corporations to optimise pump station operational expenses. It is also trialling remote level sensor technology to collect height data and levels from streams, intermediate bulk containers, reservoirs and potable water tanks without having to attend a remote site.
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UTILITY • AUGUST 2021
BIOSOLIDS AND RESOURCE RECOVERY This program assesses and runs projects to manage the pressing issue of biosolids. It is working on a pilot plant to turn biosolids into biochar, which is a significant trial in partnership with RMIT and South East Water. The pilot is being held at a Western Water treatment plant. If successful, it will provide a pathway for the industry to turn waste into a usable, value-add product. COLLABORATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING IWN’s unique role in trialling technology on behalf of the Victorian water industry also means it is well positioned to share information and introduce new innovations to the sector. To this end, the program manages an annual conference, a popular monthly webinar series and other initiatives. It aims to not only share IWN’s work but to foster more collaboration and knowledge sharing across the industry. DATA AND ANALYTICS Good decisions depend on good data and that’s what this program is about. It looks into technologies designed to better manage and analyse data, so water corporations can make cost-effective asset decisions. At the moment, this program is working closely with ten Victorian water corporations on an automated sewer CCTV footage trial with the potential to reduce the manual review of this footage by about 85 per cent. If successful, the program will consider artificial intelligence options related to the trial’s findings. WWW.UTILITYMAGAZINE.COM.AU
