Desalination & Reuse Handbook - Flipbook - Page 89
FEATURED SMART LEAKAGE REDUCTION PROJECTS
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE: NETWORK UPGRADE AND SOFTWARE ADOPTION
Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) provides water, wastewater,
gas and electricity to the East Tennessee Valley, and has taken a
proactive approach to reducing non-revenue water (NRW). The
utility is committed to overhauling its infrastructure in a costeffective manner under the Century II infrastructure improvement
programme, which began in 2006.
NRW in the KUB’s service area has reached highs of 35% in the past
decade, and the prevalence of underground leaks was a key obstacle
to reducing this figure. To address this, KUB engaged Matchpoint – a
contractor specialising in water loss recovery – in a 3-year agreement
to manage the installation and implantation of district metered areas
(DMAs). The network is now divided into 44 DMAs, each of which
serves no more than 3,000 customers, with a total of 102 pressure
sensors and flow meters. Pressure and flow data is recorded every
15 minutes and transmitted daily to a central server.
KUB’s objective for enhanced data collection was to pivot from
reactive to proactive leakage management, and to prioritise certain
zones of the network based on complete water costs. However, as
more and more data became available, it became increasingly clear
that manual data interpretation would be insufficient to achieve an
evidence-driven approach to achieving these goals.
This logistical challenge to effective data management led KUB to
issue a tender for a monitoring and event management software in
2016, which it awarded to TaKaDu in April 2017 – TaKaDu’s first
contract in the US. The software platform allows KUB to sort and
address events by type, size and trends, and integrates data from
KUB’s SCADA system and underground sensors, automatically
identifying key changes in trends as they occur, pinpointed to
specific DMAs. In addition to leaks and bursts, the platform
identifies asset failure or water contamination, and can input them
into work orders, call centres, and a range of other capabilities.
Combining data in this way allows for straightforward cross-checking
and confirmation of the most urgent bursts and leaks, as well as
helping network managers to prioritise leak repairs, as opposed to
reacting to rising leaks as they are discovered.
In addition to NRW reductions, the software has facilitated
improvements to KUB’s operational efficiency, improving network
performance, reducing operational costs, optimising network
pressure management and improving customer service. In addition
to data from SCADA systems, sensors and meters, the platform can
also integrate leaks reported to a utility’s call centre.
TaKaDu deployed its solution over the course of eight weeks,
providing training and support for KUB staff. As the technology
began generating insights from the data, TakaDu was able to further
detect where DMAs or meters were incomplete or faulty, providing
the additional value of improving the DMA system. Whereas staff
previously relied on external experts to access and interpret their
SCADA data, the TaKaDu solution was accessible enough for KUB
team members to independently assess events and information.
The installation of DMAs provided a vital foundation for the
application of sensors and event detection software, and the data
generated in turn provided information allowing improvements to
the DMAs themselves. Event detection software presents the flood
of data generated across a utility network in a way that allows for
near real-time data network monitoring, and the aggregation of data
produced over a matter of months from disparate sources. Through
these platforms, an over-abundance of data can be transformed into a
treasure trove of information.
Knoxville, TN
Source: TaKaDu
TaKaDu’s event management software allows network operators
to easily view all data related to a single DMA. The lower image
shows actual water supply levels against historic averages, with an
unusually high flow measurement indicating a leak event.
Matchpoint, Inc. specialises in water loss recovery and control
in North America and the Caribbean. It offers training and
infrastructure upgrades, and it is also a reseller for a wide range
of sensors and software for use in utility water networks. CEO
Barry Hales sees this vertical integration from the DMA to data
management as a key strength, estimating that the company’s
orders are a 50/50 split between turnkey and ‘data-as-a-service’
contracts. The latter can go as far as investigating potential
leaks for entry into a utility’s GIS system. Contractors such as
Matchpoint can play a vital role in bringing smart technologies to
utility end-users, acting as a conduit for a relatively small group of
technology providers to access the wider market.
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