How to digitize your wastewater network with a smart water solution?
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that at least 23,000 to 75,000 sanitary sewer overflow events occur in the United States each year. These overflows are mainly caused by rising wet weather conditions, inadequate maintenance and aging sewer infrastructure2. Next to managing these overflows, municipalities face additional challenging obligations due to growth of urban populations that require more demanding water quality protection. Let alone the fact that securing funding for infrastructure maintenance also became more difficult. It increases operational challenges and can affect treatment efficiency, reliability, and control of the wastewater network3. All this makes it more difficult for municipalities to meet required water standards.
According to the EPA, the solution is an Asset Management Sewer Collection System. Also known as a smart data infrastructure system. A tool like this can help maintain and elevate levels of service of domestic wastewater and stormwater systems, plan system renewal and upgrades. However, many wastewater and stormwater utilities have not implemented such robust asset management planning systems, because NPDES permits have rarely required Sewer Lines or encouraged their use4.
EPA recommends implementing smart data infrastructure systems for wet weather control to monitor, prevent and control the effects. However, it leaves us with the question what solutions are out there and which are the most cost-efficient and effective?
Kando offers such a smart water solution, and enables water organizations to get a 360 real-time view of the wastewater network activity. The solution senses water events in real-time, detects the source, alerts the water management team on the events coming towards the WWTP and automatically takes samples. This empowers the water management team to react before the event reaches the WWTP or causes damage to the infrastructure. By identifying the source upstream the management will be able to take informed management decisions. It will also support automating asset monitoring and work scheduling, reducing downtime, enhancing systems across treatment plant and network assets, extends its service life, lifecycle and resilience.
Kando’s end-to-end solution includes hardware, software, and a client interface that runs on the cloud, which can be used as a stand-alone system. The system can also be integrated into existing ERP/SCADA systems of a utility. It also provides the ability for intercommunication and data exchange, allowing enhancement of existing solutions in an integrated fashion. This means, that with limited resources, a utility can retrieve valuable insights on high-risk areas of the aging infrastructure and adopt a proactive water management strategy to prevent any future harmful wastewater events.
2. The American Society of Civil Engineers, infrastructure report card, 2017, p. 93 & 94 https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2017-Infrastructure-Report-Card.pdf
3. EPA. Sanitary Sewer Overflows, https://www.epa.gov/npdes/sanitary-sewer-overflows-ssos
4. EPA, 2014, Incorporating Asset Management Planning Provisions into NPDES Permits, https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-01/documents/incorporating-asset-mgmnt-through-permits.pdf
5. Boulus, P., November 2018, Digital Twinfrastructure: Shaping the Digital Future for the Water Industry, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-twinfrastructure-shaping-future-water-paul/
