WAT E R M ANAG EMENT | Sponsored editorial
HELPING WATER COMPANIES PREVENT WASTEWATER SPILLS Innovative technologies help water companies prevent wastewater spills and reduce pollution as improved network visibility provides better monitoring of wastewater levels.
W
astewater spills are a major contributor to the contamination of freshwater and marine ecosystems. Spills into the sea impact bathing water quality, posing serious health risks and damage to marine ecosystems. Utilities often have poor network visibility, as expensive remote monitoring equipment only covers crucial points, with responses to wastewater spills typically being reactionary. Blockages and collapsed sewers often go undetected, with control rooms inundated with high level alarms during wet weather events due to the impact of rainfall on wastewater network levels. This results in environmental and reputational damage for utilities, increased expenditure to clean up spill damage, and fines issued by regulatory bodies. A growing population, industrial demands on the water network, and a changing regulatory landscape mean utilities are under increasing pressure to control spillages and unplanned escapes to prevent pollution. An industry-wide goal, supported by technological innovation, is therefore to reduce spillages to zero.
A PRE-EMPTIVE APPROACH Poor network visibility can be significantly improved by the mass deployment of Internet of Things (IoT), low-power technologies to monitor wastewater levels in real-time, improve network performance and forecasting to help prevent wastewater spills to reduce pollution.
When combining IoT technologies with smart machinelearning data analytics, it becomes possible to predict future spill incidents as these platforms identify patterns and the capability of a pipeline to deal with an influx of rain. Metasphere works with utilities, providing high-tech IoT solutions to intelligently manage their wastewater networks by combining wastewater level data with historic, current, and forecast rainfall data. With the addition of machine-learning, utilities can now forecast up to 30 hours ahead to understand how a particular network will behave, whilst intelligent alarms allow control rooms to react to the most important spills. Early warnings of future spills are possible by identifying partial blockages, meaning blockages can be proactively cleared to prevent wastewater spills before they happen.
ZERO POLLUTION Eliminating wastewater spills prevents utilities from being fined for incidents that cause environmental and reputational damage. Technology gives utilities visibility of their network performance, helps them prevent spills and reduce pollution by being able to respond more quickly. Technology goes a long way to support utilities in meeting their zero pollution targets. However, we all have a part to play to help eliminate the discharge of pollutants, such as putting fat or plastic wipes into our systems that can create potential blockages.
ABOUT METASPHERE Metasphere helps customers prevent leaks and spills for a cleaner, greener world. A wastewater application specialist business, Metasphere, has been providing monitoring solutions to the global utility industry since the mid-1980s. The company liaises with all sectors of the industry, from major utility companies to environmental and regulatory bodies. Utilising latest technology, Metasphere delivers intelligent, innovative all-in-one telemetry solutions for full network visibility, performance and forecasting that reduce telemetry ownership cost for customers to manage time-critical remote assets and systems. For more information contact info@metasphere.net.au or call 02 9956 7407.
42
UTILITY • MAY 2022
WWW.UTILITYMAGAZINE.COM.AU
