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WIPAC MONTHLY The Monthly Update from Water Industry Process Automation & Control

www.wipac.org.uk Issue 10/2015 - October

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In this Issue

Editorial.............................................................................................................................. 3

Industry News..................................................................................................................... 4 - 9

Highlights of the news of the month from the global water industry centred around the successes of a few of the

companies in the global market.

Evolution in Wastewater goes with the Flow...................................................................... 10-11

An article written by Andy Godley, probably theexpert in both potable and wastewater flow measurement in the UK,

on how technology is helping to close the gap in the measurement of wastewater from trade effluent to the household

to the wastewater treatment works

Feature Article: Integrated Event Management.................................................................. 12-15

Our feature article this month is by Peter Williams, CTO of IBM’s Big Green Innovation and Amir Peleg CEO of world

renowned Smart Water Company TaKaDu. In the article they discuss the event management cycle and how modern

technology can help the water industry to manage events more efficiently.

For Discussion: Replacing BOD: Is it possible..................................................................... 16-18

An article for discussion in this month’s WIPAC Monthly about the potential for replacing Biochemical Osygen Demand,

a parameter and a test that has been in wide use since 1908. The article explains BOD’s redundance and looks at the

potential for using COD, TOC, Respirometry & Tryptohan as replacement measures

Workshops, Conferences & Seminars............................................................................... 19-20

The highlights of the conferences and workshops in the coming months

WIPAC Monthly is a publication of the Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group. It is produced by the group

manager and WIPAC Monthly Editor, Oliver Grievson. This is a free publication for the benefit of the Water Industry and please

feel free to distribute to any who you may feel benefit.

All enquires about WIPAC Monthly, including those who want to publish news or articles within these pages, should be directed

to the publications editor, Oliver Grievson

The photograph on the front cover is of the Padre Dam Advanced Water Purification Facility in California where amongst other

equipment a Aqua Metrology Systems (AMS) THM 100 Monitor has been installed.

Is there a potential that repeating this in the home will sink the Smart Industry?

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From the Editor

This month we saw one of the major global technology companies launch their version of a home management sys-tem. It was of course Samsung and it is looking at the “Smart Home” from a telecoms and technology company point

of view. What of course it was a single perspective of what a person should have in their home but of course coming from the one point of view it missed a lot of tricks. I am self confessed technology geek and I love technology, but, what nightmare is having one sort of technology to run a part of my life, another to do something else and so on. To borrow from the song title “There could be trouble ahead.”

What of course we are missing is some sort of collaboration across (a) the utilities (b) industry as a whole. Yes I want the home management systems so I can litter my home with technology that will tell me all sorts of things that I may or may not want to know beamed to my phone all around the world but yes I want that to link with my water meter and my electricity meter and everything else (although I still shirk at my fridge telling me I need to buy a pint of milk). If as an industry we are to go down the route of an (industrial) internet of things then this is interoperability is certainly the way to go.

What of course this requires is interoperability, a standard way of doing things and it is something that people like Laurie Reynolds has been campaigning about for a very long time. Guess what....he’s right and it makes a lot of sense. What of course the poor person in the home will end up with unless we go down this route is a veritable minefield of devices all connected to one or two sensors all telling us how much we’ve consumed of a single item. Guess what this is the fundamental basis of the “Resistance to the effective use of instrumentation” except converted to the home environment. It will undoubtedly turn the customer off the whole concept of the Smart Industry and potentially affect the concepts of Smart Cities too.

So how do we change? It is a question that has been addressed by the SWAN Forum recently in their report on the water industry regulators and there is the potential for the different industries to work together, most simply the Utilities Industries working together. The UK is going through a Smart Meter project for the electricity industry and this should have included the water industry as well. Building new houses, in my opinion should have miniature PLC’s hooked to the power and water meters, it is something that needs to go into the building codes and it is something where the cost needs to be offset to somewhere (understandably the house builders can’t afford to swallow the costs on this). Once it is in the home environment then there is the translation of this over to the treatment works environment too.

WIPAC has been talking about the Smart Industry for a while, it is starting to happen slowly, as water companies start to use their data in more effective ways and think about the data they collect. In someways it is akin to a toddler who is attempting to run before he/she can walk....but to use one of favourite phrases.....”we’re getting there.” The danger is of course is that so is everybody else and everybody is looking at the individual view and not the most holistic view of things and the danger is that the customer will go so confused that potential for resistance increases all of the time.

What will happen in the future remains to be seen however, my personal feelings, is that it will need the holistic influence to guide all of the industries in the same direction. Is this government, is this regulators, is this professional organisations or is this industry driver. Realistically it is probably a combination of all of the above but if it is down to industry to deliver then there needs to be a way for the risks and the costs to be offset and that is possibly the biggest barrier to the adoption of a joined up approach or inter-operationability and what we as a customer will end up with is something that is good, it works but it doesn’t do everything that we want and it kind of.....misses the point.

Have a good month

Oliver

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Industry News

SWAN release Benchmarking Quality of Service Report

The SWAN Forum have released their Benchmarking Quality of Service Report this month which provides a comparison of the water industry regulators across five different countries. The abstract from the report is below and a full copy of the report is available to SWAN members. Further details and more information is available by contacting Amir Cahn of the SWAN Forum (amirc@swan-forum.com)

Improving customer service is a key business driver for water utilities. In the 2014 SWAN Global Utility Survey, customer service was ranked the number one business driver by water utilities, cited by 76% of respondents. However, what differentiates high quality service from poor quality service and how are utilities measured by their performance? This report examines how five, international water regulators in Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands, UK, and U.S.,uniquely benchmark and incentivize their utility operators to improve their quality of service, for example:

1. In Australia, the State of Victoria uses the “mystery caller” technique to evaluate call centre performance based on the operators’ tone and greeting manner.

2. In Brazil, winners of the National Sanitation Quality Award are hosted in an elaborate gala award ceremony and invited to an international benchmarking tour to view state of-the-art technologies and management practices.

3. In the Netherlands, the water regulatory association, VEWIN directly surveys nearly 12,000 customers to gauge customer satisfaction.

4. In the UK, the economic water regulator, Ofwat, requires water companies to propose long-term, outcomes with linked financial rewards and penalties needed to deliver high quality service to customers.

5. In the U.S., utilities can develop their own benchmarking exercises or be guided by a voluntary assessment program. Industry organizations also have annual awards to acknowledge performance excellence for outstanding utilities.

As the need to improve customer service grows, international water regulators will play a vital role in guiding and incentivizing utilities to meet and exceed their quality of service standards. Each water regulator is at a different stage of its development with different needs and challenges. The goal of this white paper will be to compare different quality of service standards, identify innovative benchmarking strategies, and encourage future collaboration.

Nivus launch novel contactless flow measurement system

NIVUS have launched a new accurate flow measurement system using parallel level measurements calling it the NivuSmart Q.

The new measurement method has been developed in close cooperation with the University of Strasbourg. A hydraulic model perfectly adjusted to the specific conditions on the measurement site is the basis for accurate measurements. This model uses two level measurements in combination with the hydraulic model to determine the flow rate. Both levels are measured at a known distance, such as in two consecutive shafts within a channel system. The measurement accuracy is comparable to other contactless flow measurement systems such as Radar. By calibrating the measurement system even higher accuracies can be achieved. Hydraulic phenomena such as backwater and free discharge can be detected using NivuSmart Q without any problems.

The system operates contactless since ultrasonic sensors are used for level measurement. Therefore costs for installation and maintenance are remarkably low. Using self-sufficient GPRS data loggers featuring very long battery lifetimes moreover allows system operation without mains power supply. Being available on a particular data portal, the data can be accessed via Internet from anywhere in the world.

NIVUS supply the new flow measurement as a complete system. Starting with the measurement site assessment, the measuring of existing channels and the installation through the implementation of the specific measurement place models as well as the measurement verification - all steps are executed solely by the system manufacturer.

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Acoustic technology SewerBatt wins additional investment

Merseyside-based business Acoustic Sensing Technology Ltd has received an additional investment of £200,000 from The North West Fund for Energy & Environmental, to help further commercial growth for its SewerBatt technology used in drains and sewer networks.

SewerBatt – which uses echo-location principles similar to those that allows bats to fly at night – works by sending multi-frequency sound waves along sewer pipes which can rapidly identify the serviceability of drains and sewer networks. The investment of the fund, which is managed by 350 Investment Partners, reflects a belief in the benefits of using acoustic technology over more traditional underground surveying methods such as CCTV.

Acoustic Sensing Technology Finance Director Rob Jones said: “As market awareness of acoustic technology grows, and people recognise the significant cost savings and customer service improvements available to them, it is important that we are able to continue to develop both our product and our service offering. The investment we have received from The North West Fund allows us to do just that and demonstrates great confidence that what we have developed is right for the market we operate in”.

“We are very much at the forefront of developing this kind of technology, not only in the UK where we are working with a large number of major utility and rail companies but on a world-wide scale where we already have significant market presence”.

“Through our dialogue with our customers we have a clear understanding of what they would like from us in terms of a future product and service offering. This investment will enable us to deliver that without delay”.

Peter Linthwaite, partner at 350 Investment Partners, said: “When you consider that using acoustic technology to survey drains and sewers takes approximately 20% of the time of more traditional CCTV then it is not difficult to understand why the take up of our SewerBatt has been so significant”.

In August, Thames Water’s wastewater network partner Lanes Group announced it was rolling out SewerBatt across the Thames region after an 18-month trial.

Data source saves millions of pounds for flood risk assessment sector

A national flood data source hosted by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is estimated to deliver more than £5M a year net benefit to the UK flood risk assessments sector, a new report has revealed.

The National River Flow Archive’s (NRFA) Peak Flow database is calculated to provide net economic benefits of almost £5.4M annually in terms of costs saved by environmental consultants and regulators. Over a 25 - year term, it equates to a net present value of £95M, according to report author Richard Blackmore, of Research Impact Consulting.

Dr Harry Dixon, head of the NRFA, said: “Up-to-date, accurate records of peak river flow are vital for developing understanding of flood events and improving the ability of regulators and the private sector to predict, manage and mitigate their impact. The NRFA data underpin the full spectrum of flood risk activities from national strategic mapping through to flood risk assessments conducted when planning new housing or commercial developments.”

Peak flow data was integrated into the NRFA – hosted by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology – in April 2014. The move means that, for the first time since the national collation of hydrometric data was initiated in 1934, a single source of UK-wide data is available to support water resources and flood risk management.

NRFA data are used in a number of areas of UK water management, including water resources assessment, national situation monitoring and freshwater science. As the findings relate to just a small part of the database’s uses in flood risk assessments, the calculated value represents only a fraction of the national archive’s wider economic impact.

Dr Dixon said, “The report highlights a significant economic contribution by the NRFA to the local flood risk sector. The analysis demonstrates that the entire cost of maintaining the NRFA Peak Flow Database on an annual cycle is easily covered by the benefits of its use by consultants and regulators in preparing and assessing detailed flood risk assessments alone.”

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Southern Water Implements ICMLive

Innovyze Tool to Provide Real-Time Operational Forecasting and Decision Support System for Urban and Rural Catchments at One of Largest Water and Wastewater Companies in South East of England.

Innovyze has announced this month that Southern Water, UK, has selected ICMLive, the industry’s leading real-time integrated catchment modelling solu-tion, to help manage and operate its large and complex sewer collection system. The purchase will allow Southern Water to harness the power of real-time data, scenario planning and predictive modelling to improve the operation and management of its collection system and better anticipate and mitigate the effects of extreme weather-related events.

Southern Water is one of the largest water and wastewater companies in the South East of England, serving an area of some 4,450 sq. kms. Each day, it treats and recycles 730 million liters of wastewater for more than four million customers at 368 treatment works once it is conveyed through a 39,000 kilometer sewer network.

“Our wastewater system spans an extensive network of pipes, and we continually seek out the best modelling technology to help us effectively optimize performance and sustainability,” said Andrew Adams, Asset Manager for Wastewater Infrastructure at Southern Water. “This technology will help give us more timely, accurate and reliable catchment forecasts – supporting our progress from largely reactive to more proactive network management. This could result in significantly more efficient and economical network operations, greater network integrity, improved network maintenance and customer service.”

A powerful risk assessment and real-time decision making tool, ICMLive enables managers and operators to consider the influence of a full range of catchment factors in the management of flooding and reduction of unregulated discharges; the enhancement of storage and existing infrastructure for savings on capital works; and the optimization of pumps to lower energy costs and reduce CO2 emissions. The software is designed to work automatically. Once a system is configured, real-time data is continually and automatically harvested and quality-checked. Simulations are run automatically at a user-defined frequency. They draw on the full hydrodynamic and technological capabilities of the industry-leading InfoWorks ICM, including one- and two-dimensional modelling techniques, real-time control, dynamic water quality analysis, and GPU-enhanced and remote simulation. Simulation frequency can change in response to user-defined conditions.

ICMLive lets users quickly assess events as they occur, identify potential problems before they reach a critical level, respond decisively to operational challenges, reduce overflow volumes, and minimize downstream effects. For example, operators can analyze the impact of a predicted incoming storm event and identify all areas with the potential to be impacted by flooding or overflows. Alternative mitigating solutions can then be rapidly and accurately analyzed and compared to determine the level of effectiveness and associated cost, and the most appropriate solution can be quickly acted upon.

ICMLive also allows users to perform additional scenario analysis simulations, exploring alternative real time control scenarios and quickly seeing the effect of these changes on the system. ICMLive’s wide range of capabilities make it a key tool in the decision making process, enabling users to take action to avoid system issues, release timely alerts, and quickly deploy response teams if necessary.

“Water is a precious and increasingly scarce resource essential for life, and its effective management is critical for all water authorities to ensure long-term viability and keep the communities they serve strong, safe, and sustainable,” said Ruth Clarke, Client Service Manager for Innovyze. “We are proud that Southern Water has chosen ICMLive to play such an important part in its critical work to optimize the operational management of its sewer network.”

Added Paul F. Boulos, Innovyze’s President, COO and Chief Technical Officer, “Southern Water has always been at the forefront of smart water network modeling innovation. We’re delighted to know that our industry-leading solutions will continue to be helping this progressive enterprise optimize the operation and management of its sewer system and better serve its customers.”

Scottish Water has awarded a consultancy support contract for IT Outsourcing worth an estimated £3 million.

The contract covers development support of a sourcing strategy for its IT products and services. These are currently delivered through outsourcing agreements with 3 global IT partners, which expire in August 2018.

Scottish Water is currently conducting a full review of its sourcing strategy, service requirements, supply chain design and service integration solution in preparation for a formal procurement.

Seven companies were in the bidding for the work – who had to demonstrate that they met the following minimum criteria:

• Within the last 18 months they had provided consultancy support to a similarly scoped project that involved re-procurement of IT external support from an existing environment of outsourced provision to multiple partners.

• Track record of successful support in the development of sourcing strategies for clients with an of annual expenditure of at least £50 million on external IT service/products.

Edinburgh-based firm Vision Consulting has won the contract, which runs for four years.

Work will include review, assessment and selection of preferred suppliers

The objectives of the project include:

• identify a Sourcing Model with the right number of providers and work packaging to maximise commercial and technical synergies and minimise procurement and management costs

• review the end to end service requirement to identify the best means of delivering Scottish Water’s business requirement;• assist Scottish Water in the review, assessment and selection of preferred suppliers;• support implementation of a service integration solution and alliance model across Scottish Water providers;• recommend commercial and pricing models which incentivise positive provider behaviours and deliver cost reduction, service improvement, flexibility and

additional business value;• develop a performance management system across all strategic Scottish Water IT partners that not only delivers the expected benefits but goes further to

extract the full potential value available from each sourcing relationship;• review current IT Business Change programme delivery models and recommend improvements so that Scottish Water can deliver challenging programmes

being implemented over 2015 to 2021;• recommend a shape for the Scottish Water retained organisation so it is fit-for-purpose• review all currently in-house delivered services and recommend best of breed model for future delivery;• recommend how Scottish Water can capitalise fully on any new opportunities and capabilities in the sourcing marketplace — e.g. Independent SIAM

services, RPA (robotic process automation), re-shoring, impact sourcing.

Scottish Water awards £3m IT consultancy support contract

Amey’s Yorkshire Water team adopts smartphone video technologyAmey is deploying breakthrough time- and cost-saving one-touch smartphone video technology across its Yorkshire Water team. The technology is enabling the team to provide full video reports produced by the app and accompanying system will replace photos and paperwork.

Adopting evidentially-standard-secure smartphone video technology is saving Amey time and money, and ensuring build, maintenance and repair project records are and will remain accurate.

The YRfree technology operates on smartphones and tablets and allows project employees and managers to video-record job progress, snag-resolution and project completion as definitive reports - removing time-consuming form-filling, photo-taking and uploading from their workload as well as reducing travel to and from site.

Adam Stephenson, Innovation Business manager at Amey said: “Amey is always looking at new innovative solutions to help us do our job better and is leading the way in the utilities sector with this YRfree solution. It not only helps to make the work that we do safer, but keeps our employees better informed and better supported even in the remotest of sites. The technology allows them to gain immediate support from their colleagues through instant video upload and by using the conferencing facility to get advice. We expect to see significant benefits for Yorkshire Water and their customers, as well as for our employees, as YRfree is deployed.”

YRfree CEO John Ridd said: “This solution is unique on several fronts. Primarily, Amey will use it as a record-keeping and storage tool. At any stage in a job or project, somebody on the ground can use the app to video-record the status.”

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BridgeValley Community and Technical College in West Virginia celebrates the opening of a cutting-edge PTU® (Process Training Unit) made possible by the generous contributions of Endress+Hauser, BridgeValley and Rockwell Automation. Thanks to industry partners, BridgeValley will be the new home to a $1M, 1,800 square-foot, state-of-the-art PTU®.

“By working alongside BridgeValley and other universities, Endress+Hauser can help secure the talent pipeline and better prepare our next-generation workforce for successful careers in the field of process control and automation,” said Brandyn Ferguson, Vice President of Human Resources, Endress+Hauser. “The innovative approach we have taken at BridgeValley is truly unique to the industry.”

The BridgeValley PTU® will serve as a go-to place for companies who are seeking workforce training for their employees and customers, and for students to utilize as they pursue their degree programs. The PTU® combines theory and a hands-on approach to provide participants with real-world experience in a safe, working process environment.

The PTU® is outfitted to help students and customers gain hands-on experience with the types of operation, diagnostics and troubleshooting found in real-life process plants. It features the latest Endress+Hauser flow, level, temperature, pressure and analytical instrumentation, two 350 gallon tanks, in addition to the PlantPAx process control system donated by Rockwell Automation. The PlantPAx process automation system will be used in a functioning environment with field devices to train customers for operation and maintenance of process systems. In addition, it provides a venue for demonstrations of Endress+Hauser and Rockwell Automation technology and a regional resource for customers to obtain hands-on training in a controlled environment.

“A key aspect of our role in the community is to partner with industry leaders to provide technical education necessary to keep our companies competitive and jobs in West Virginia,” said Dr. Jo Harris, BridgeValley President. “Our collaboration with Endress+Hauser and Rockwell Automation allows students and local companies to receive real-world experience in a controlled learning environment.”

The partnership between BridgeValley, manufacturers Endress+Hauser and Rockwell Automation, and the sales and service company Forberg Scientific Inc. will benefit the community and industry in West Virginia by not only offering learning opportunities for college students, but also industrial training for workers from many large companies in the area wanting to modernize their processing plants, and take advantage of new technology to develop more efficient operations.

The BridgeValley PTU® is one of ten across the U.S. built to help keep up with the heightened demand for workforce training. Recognizing this trend, Endress+Hauser has made investments to become the clear leader and number one instrumentation training provider in the industry.

Industry Partners Endress+Hauser And Rockwell Automation Make Major Investment In BridgeValley Process Training Unit

Padre Dam Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Project Incorporates Online THM Instrument

Padre Dam Muncipal Water District in Santee, California has installed the THM-100 online trihalomethane (THM) monitor from Aqua Metrology Systems to provide real-time data on disinfection by-product (DBP) formation, aid the utility in evaluating their innovative free chlorine disinfection strategy, and ensure the safety of potable reuse water being used produced at their Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Project.

Padre Dam imports 100 percent of its drinking water supply from the Sacramento Bay Delta and Colorado River. Drought conditions and imported water supply challenges have highlighted the need for Padre Dam to explore new possible water sources capable of ensuring a safe and reliable drinking water supply. As a result, the Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Project began operations in April 2015 at the Roy Stover Water Recycling Facility to evaluate the treatment strategy needed to meet the requirements for potable reuse from recycled water. Once full-scale, the Advanced Water

Purification Project will provide 2,000 to 3,000 acre feet per year, 20-25%, of Padre Dam’s drinking water.

The Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Project, using a 100,000 gpd pilot facility, includes the feasibility testing of the addition of free chlorine, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation. Free chlorine is a unique application for water recycling facilities and as such, it is important to test and verify the quality of the potable reuse water created through advanced treatment. The THM-100 monitor is being used to demonstrate the free chlorine strategy and its ability to provide high quality potable reuse water while limiting the formation of harmful DBPs.

“The THM-100 online monitor provides us with immediate and accurate daily reports on THM levels. Monitoring the real-time formation of THMs helps us to ensure we are meeting the pathogen removal requirements for potable reuse. The online monitor continuously measures the THM levels of the permeate water from the reverse osmosis system. Manually collected samples are analyzed alongside the samples taken automatically by the monitor in its online mode,” said Al Lau, Director of Engineering, Padre Dam Municipal Water District.

“As utilities explore new potable water sources, such as potable reuse, or new technologies to improve existing water quality, it is imperative to validate performance during feasibility studies and full-scale operation,” said Rick Bacon, CEO of Aqua Metrology Systems. “Online instruments such as the THM-100 provide utilities with the high frequency and real-time data needed to safely and effectively manage their water, water reuse or wastewater treatment facilities.”

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ATi wins new monitoring framework with UUAnalytical Technology (ATi) has been awarded a new framework agreement for water and wastewater monitoring equipment with United Utilities.

It will see ATi act as the sole or dual technology supplier in nine categories of instrumentation: pH analysers, chlorine residual analysers, turbidity monitors, dissolved oxygen monitors, suspended solids monitors, ammonium monitors, conductivity monitors and sludge blanket monitors.

The deal builds on a long-standing partnership between ATi and UU which started in the 1990s with chlorine monitoring.

The instrumentation will be installed for control and environment monitoring. Several projects are already underway, with the early emphasis on smaller wastewater plants.

Dr Mike Strahand, ATi Europe General Manager, commented: “This latest framework agreement builds on our existing relationship with United Utilities and is designed to ensure the control, monitoring and reporting capabilities of water and wastewater plants.

“A key part of the selection process was the whole life cost of the instruments, due to industry focus being on product lifecycles. ATi’s philosophy is to design industry-leading monitors that require minimum intervention and minimum reagent use during operation, resulting in low running costs and minimum maintenance. This makes ATi’s products very competitive over 15 year lifecycles.

“This agreement clearly demonstrates a strong desire by both parties to commit to investing in the future of water quality.”

ABB Stonehouse facility gains UKAS Accreditation

Rotork wins new valve actuation framework with South East Water

Release of LIDAR flood database laser data extends commercial applications

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ABB’s manufacturing and testing facility in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire has this month achieved UKAS accreditation for an extended range including electrical testing, temperature and pressure. This enables the facility to not only test its own range of equipment but also act as an external testing laboratory for external companies and it expands the range of testing that ABB’s facility can offer.

Following formal pre-qualification and tender processes, Rotork UK has been awarded a new and exclusive valve actuator supply framework agreement with South East Water for a period of three years, with the option to extend to five years.

Many of these processes utilise Rotork IQ intelligent multi-turn and part-turn valve actuators and Profibus control networks to assist with high levels of automation and provide diagnostic and preventative maintenance functions.

Rotork UK’s framework is also designed to provide training and support services to South East Water staff and its delivery contractors, enabling the design, commissioning and maintenance of flow control equipment to be achieved in the most efficient way and deliver reliable, automated control.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss has described the release of new laser mapping data from the LIDAR flood database as “just the beginning of the biggest government data giveaway the country has ever seen.”

The recent release of 3D LIDAR maps, produced by the Environment Agency, will be used to help grape growers better understand the tiny variations in slope and aspect of their land. When used in combination with other data, growers will be able to pinpoint the best location to plant vines that will thrive.

The extensive LIDAR archive – which contains 11-terabytes of information, equivalent to 2,750,000 MP3 songs, and covers most of England – was originally used by the Environment Agency to plan flood defences and analyse land use.

It was released last month under the #OpenDefra project, which will see 8,000 datasets made publicly available in the next year, so that commercial industries and members of the public can use it free of charge.

Sir Philip Dilley, Chairman of the Environment Agency, said:

“This data can give unique information about a landscape that can be useful for all kinds of applications. For example, when deciding where best to plant vines, the data can provide a vital insight into the terrain to identify ‘frost hollows’ and badly-drained areas that adversely affect vines.”

“Making our LIDAR surveys available as Open Data gives entrepreneurs, businesses, and local communities new opportunities to grow our thriving rural economy.”

LIDAR is the first of a number of datasets that will be released by Defra in the coming months to help grow the wine industry. From data on soil chemistry and ground water measurement to information on water supplies and localised microclimates, the planned data releases will support an industry already at the forefront of technology.

Steve Wilkinson, Head of Data Services at the Joint Nature Conservation Committee said:

“We are entering an age where all sectors – government, commercial and research – will need to work much more closely together to protect and get the best out of our environment. While the tools and techniques for analysing data become ever more powerful, it is making data more accessible that really makes the difference.”

Article:

Evolution In Wastewater Goes With The Flow

While options for clean water flow measurement abound, there is room for improvement on the wastewater side — but new technologies are closing the gap.

Flow measurement underpins almost every aspect of the water and wastewater industries. In the clean water part of the cycle, flows are monitored and measured at all stages from source to delivery, driven by factors such as environmental protection (abstraction), reduced leakage, and revenue generation. On the wastewater side, however, there is generally less flow measurement in place as, historically, the drivers for wastewater flow metering have not been as strong.

Playing Catch-Up

There are significant technical difficulties when metering wastewater that make it much more challenging to measure than clean water and may also partly explain why there is less metering of wastewater flows.

Firstly, once abstracted, most clean water travels through pipes that are pressurized by pumping or gravity and run full. Wastewater, on the other hand, is often running through partially-filled pipes, sewers, and channels with a free surface flow. Closed-pipe flow is, on the whole, much easier to meter than open-channel flow, where the level of fluid and its velocity can vary independently. Thus, a given volumetric flow in a specific channel may be a shallow, fast-moving flow or a deep, slow-moving flow. Unless a control structure such as a weir or flume is in place, two measurements — velocity and liquid level — are often required to calculate volume.

Clean water flows also tend to be contained in round pipes. In wastewater, we find all kinds of interestingly-shaped sewers and channels. When no structure is in place, the shape needs to be characterized with respect to depth to calculate the wetted area (volumetric flow being wetted area multiplied by mean velocity).

Then, of course, clean water is, by definition, clean; wastewater isn’t. Wastewater can be highly variable in content, carrying heavily-fouling substances such as fats, oils, and greases (FOG), as well as light solids and heavy solids, such as grit and other debris.

Pressing For Measurement

In the U.K., regulations stemming from the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive and the Water Framework Directive have changed the emphasis on wastewater flow measurement. It is set to change even further with the new pressures on water companies caused by the Outcome Delivery Incentives (ODIs) put in place as part of the latest industry price review. These include, for example, incentives to reduce the incidence of sewer flooding. The consequences of pollution spills from malfunctioning combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are now more severe, with higher fines being levied by the Environment Agency for such incidents. This is leading, in the words of David Tyler, Environment Strategy Manager at Southern Water, “towards a more resilient and adaptive sewer network, one which is inexorably underpinned by in-sewer flow monitoring.”

Finally, there is also the opening of the retail market for water and wastewater services in 2017 in England that will allow non-household customers to buy their wastewater services from any provider, not just their local water company. This should stimulate new ideas for service provision with better understanding of wastewater discharges, underpinned by flow measurement.

The majority of wastewater, whether from residential premises, industrial, or commercial sites, is discharged to the sewer network. A large industrial user will have a trade effluent meter (TEM) monitoring its discharges so that charges can be levied based on the Mogden formula, which combines flow, solids, and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) to assess loading on the treatment process. The opening of the retail market for non-household water services in 2017 is stimulating new interest in this area. Those offering services based on more accurate flow measurement, and hence more accurate charges, are likely to develop additional services that can be provided using this data.

Applying Solutions

This may be an area where insertable sensors, such as the Nivus correlation pipe sensor, can be used to good effect. Such sensors can be installed in a live pipe without disruption, but more importantly, can be removed for cleaning, thus providing ongoing accuracy. Some are already in use for monitoring trade discharges to the environment from on-site treatment plants.

At sites without trade effluent meters, charges are based on the metered potable water supplied. Where waste flows to a combined sewer that also receives surface runoff, adjustments are made in the charging mechanism. An interesting development for sites without a specific TEM, therefore, is the wastewater meter offered by Dynamic Flow Technologies.

This uses microwave technology to measure the actual discharged waste flow. Models have currently been developed for typical drain flows in 4-inch (100 mm) and 6-inch (150 mm) pipes and will allow charging based directly on the quantity of foul discharge, rather than some assumed relationship with the water in and unmeasured adjustments for runoff. This technology is currently on trial with Wessex Water in the U.K. and could lead to new charging mechanisms for sites where clean water usage is relatively low but where there are large surface areas for rainwater runoff (for example, an out-of-town superstore where relatively little clean water is used in toilets and canteen facilities, but there are large roofs and parking areas).

In-sewer flow measurement is perhaps one of the most challenging flow applications in the water industry, due to the highly fouling nature of the fluid.

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Andy Godley is a senior consultant for Flow Measurement and Metering at WRc plc and is considered one of the UK’s leading experts on flow measurement. Godley has been involved with flow for more than 25 years, working across both the clean and wastewater sides of the industry for users, suppliers, and regulators. He sits on a number of British, European, and international standards committees on flow topics.

However, it is also one of the most necessary for the reasons cited above. Non-contact sensors that are less prone to fouling are clearly desirable.While sewage levels are monitored quite widely using non-contact methods, non-contact velocity measurement is also now available using products such as the Raven-Eye and the LaserFlow. Both user Doppler methods — the former based on radar and the latter on lasers. These afford the opportunity to better understand what is going on in a sewer and distinguish, for example, level increases due to blockages and genuine high-flow storm events, both of which might lead to flooding but require different responses.

The Future In-Sewer

In-sewer flow measurement can also help manage loads going into treatment processes. WRc, an independent public limited company that provides water/wastewater research and consultancy, has recently been investigating the opportunity for smarter auto-desludging of primary settlement tanks. Desludging may be initiated by in-sewer meters warning of an incoming high load, thus creating headroom to deal with the first foul flush from a storm event and avoiding excess solids being carried through into second-stage treatment.

The Manning Formula (or derivatives) has long been used to estimate flow-rate based solely on a single level reading, though some of its assumptions and limitations mean that it is usually only an estimate at best. However, at the International Flow Measurement Conference held this July at Warwick University in Coventry, England, Laurent Solliec of Nivus presented an improved method using two-level sensors. This new approach can overcome some of the difficulties with traditional slope-area methods, such as coping with backwater. Tests in a sewer in Germany have been promising. Two-level sensors could provide a relatively easy-to-install and low-cost method for sewer flow monitoring.

The non-contact area-velocity meters are causing considerable interest for use on treatment works inflows and outflows, particularly now that independent testing by WRc under the Environment Agency’s Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS) has shown such approaches as being capable of producing data of the quality required by the regulator. LaserFlow and Raven-Eye are opening up the market for such devices, but, like all innovations, their work raises new questions.

One key aspect that is being debated is the in situ calibration and verification of these devices. Under MCERTS, users are required to have ongoing confidence in the operation of their effluent flow meters, including measurement validation. Systems are also subjected to an external inspection and in situ verification every five years by an MCERTS inspector. There are a number of methods for doing this at the moment, but recent papers have identified new and potentially more convenient methods. Tamari, et al.1 report promising results from handheld radar, and Lüthi, et al.2 have developed an app for a mobile phone that captures the movement of the liquid surface using the device’s camera and analyses to give a measurement of flow.

Emerging, there are a large number of innovations for wastewater flow measurement driven by the need for better management of wastewater flows for environmental protection and the opportunities to develop new charging methods. It is often difficult to get new technologies accepted by a conservative water industry. There are encouraging signs that the U.K. water companies are becoming much more interested in implementing innovative solutions. Independent test schemes such as MCERTS and the European Environmental Technology Verification pilot project play a significant role in establishing the capabilities of new developments, though there is still work needed to develop methods for field verification.

Measurement Points In The Wastewater Network

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Feature Article:

Integrated Event Management

Biochemical Oxygen Demand or BOD is probably one of the most and also one of least known parameters in the Wastewater Industry. Everyone has heard of it

Abstract

Today, global water utilities face a multi-dimensional challenge: they have aging assets with budget and resource constraints, yet increasing customer expectations. To effectively respond to network “Events” (e.g. leak, water quality issue, faulty meter, etc.), utilities must manage the full life-cycle of events in the right priority and in a speedy manner. This will drive a higher efficiency in water network operations and result in much higher customer satisfaction. This white paper proposes a new paradigm for water Event Management drawn from other industries. It will focus on Asset Management, Customer Relationship Management and the missing layer, Integrated Event Management.

Introduction – The need

Throughout history, people have devised systems for getting and using water more efficiently: the qanat systems of underground conduits in Persia, for example, are effectively pollution proof, suffer no evaporation losses and are over 3,000 years old. Progress really picked up speed in the Enlightenment era. In the 18th century, a rapidly growing population fuelled the establishment of water supply networks. In London and Manchester, sanitation systems were added in Victorian times, once it was established that sewage contaminated water was a source of cholera. Since then, rapid urban population growth in developed and developing countries has triggered the establishment of governmental, municipal and private water utilities around the globe. Water utilities have invested billions of dollars in laying down the infrastructure required to supply the increasing demand for high-quality water, and for maintaining a reasonable level of service to their customers.

However, a water utility today faces several challenges:

• Aging assets (of different periods, types, and materials), some dating back to the initial Victorian expansion;• Highly demanding customers (everyone expects satisfactory water service, adequate water pressure and good water quality in a 24/7 manner) – or, where

the 24/7 condition cannot be met, at least an equitable distribution of clean, safe water per head, at predictable times of day;• Limited resources (e.g. droughts, and over pumping of natural underground reservoirs)• Costly operations (water utilities are the #1 energy consumers);• Various exogenous problems such as errant backhoe loaders, traffic vibrations, loss of power, floods or earthquakes, customer theft, etc.;• Inadequate pricing of their primary commodity – making it difficult to justify updates and in some cases, leak fixes.

As if these operational challenges were not enough, water utilities are also confronted with constant incidents and faults, such as:

• Network incidents such as faulty assets, leaks, bursts, etc.;• Problems related to water quality;• Network-operation faults such as a valve left open or installed in the reverse direction;• Telemetry faults such as broadcasting problems, etc.

Any combination of these multi-dimensional challenges and incidents creates an “Event” that needs to be addressed by the water utility staff. The challenge for water-utility management teams is optimizing their decision-making process in order to achieve the required level of service and the best utilization of the assets at a minimum cost with an effective response time to all events. In a utility’s daily reality, it is often just about maintaining service at the best possible level, given all the broken assets, and operational events.

An Event-Management solution is key to such an optimization challenge, which needs to embrace cross-organizational functions and work across all management levels. We propose here a paradigm for Event Management drawn from the IT industry.

Event Management - The analogy to the IT sector

An “Information Technology Infrastructure Library” (ITIL) comprises a set of practices for IT service management that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of a business. ITIL defines a category named: Incident Management, which is relevant to issues like Cyber Security, where an ‘incident’ happens and needs to be detected, contained and resolved.

An Incident Management system is defined by the ITIL as the combination of the following seven phases:

1. Incident detection and recording2. Classification and initial support3. Investigation and diagnosis4. Incident containment, as applicable5. Resolution and recovery6. Incident closure7. Ownership and modelling

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These seven components are broadly used in the cyber security industry and can be applied to any business using IT services. A full Event Management solution mirrors that of Information Technology Incident Management, both of which can be presented through a similar process, as seen in the table below.

Phase Incident Management Description Event Management Description

Identification & Registration Detection of an incident Detect an Event (by smart analytics) and allocate an Event ID number

Categorization Incident categorization Classifying Event Type (leak, faulty meter, etc).

Diagnosis & Prioritization Symptoms of an incident Prioritized for better utilization

Event Information (location, magnitude, etc.) and set priority (big burst in rural area VS. small leak in a central location)

Containment Limit possible damage Isolate the incident (by automated pump and valve settings)

Investigation Determine the cause Analyze the root cause

Resolution Solution API to work order management and other opera-tional systems

Incident Closure Incident closed in systemRepair Verification (by analytics) and define the Event End Time, plus summary information (total water loss, repair time, etc.).

Event Management - Enabling technologies

In the last few years, new technologies have been introduced to the world of water utilities:

• Data transmission costs have dropped significantly;• Self-powering meters have been introduced;• Big data technologies enable the collection, aggregation, manipulation, and processing of extremely large volumes of data in near real time;• Cloud computing reduce the cost of acquiring and maintaining massive onsite hardware in order to maintain and process large volumes of data;• External data (e.g. weather information, assets histories) have become easily and cheaply accessible.

These technologies and conditions together with a set of newly developed data analytics algorithms enable the automated creation of most events in the water network, which in turn calls for a fully managed lifecycle of “Events.”

Managing Life-Cycles

There are three, essential pillars for a water utility’s on-going operations:

1. Assets – in which huge investments have been made in the last few decades2. Customers – the real users of the service and the ones paying the bill3. Events – which need to be managed to ensure smooth on-going operations

In the last few decades, most advanced water utilities in the world are using mature Software Products to manage assets (e.g. few Asset Management solutions exist in the market, like Maximo by IBM) and to manage customers (CRM solutions are common with any service provider since the mid-1990’s). It seems that there is high level of similarity between these two solutions since both of them deals with managing the full life-cycle of the relevant ‘entity.’

Managing Assets

Asset Management for asset lifecycle and maintenance management is today’s common solution for managing physical assets effectively in asset-intensive industries such as water utilities. A good Asset Management product allows water utilities to maintain system configurations, identify links between critical assets, schedule maintenance based on events, prior maintenance plans or predicted failures, manage inventory, generate work-orders and manage their execution, record work carried out, update asset histories, manage resources and personnel. Such a system enables managing the full life-cycle of all types of assets, optimizing their purchase, deployment, operational use, maintenance, and disposal. Trend analysis also enables persistent weaknesses to be discovered and for sharing and enforcement of best practices.

Managing Customers

A CRM product integrates all the phases of the customer life-cycle into three major processes: Solicitation, Lead-Tracking, and Relationship Management. For water utilities, the most crucial process is the Customer Relationship Management.

Whenever a customer interacts with the water utility, it is vital that the richness of information available on that customer informs and guides the process-es that will help to maximize the customer’s experience, while simultaneously making the interaction as effective and efficient as possible. This includes everything from avoiding repetition or rekeying of information, to viewing customer history, establishing context and initiating desired actions. Most CRM products available have a true 360-degree view of the customers including views of the past, present and future interactions and potential interactions of the

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customer with the water utility.

Delivering on managing the customer’s full life-cycle with the 360-degree view is not simply about having a unified database of all activity, but rather being able to pull together the pieces of information that are relevant for a specific customer and specific interaction into an intuitive workspace for the agent regardless of organizational department and/or function.

Managing Events

Integrated Event Management solutions are now becoming available, and allow the water utility staff to manage the full event life-cycle. The types of Events which can now be automatically detected is very wide, some of which are: Water Loss, Leaks, Bursts, Hidden Leak, Abnormal Usage Pattern, Faulty Meters, DMA Breach, No Data, Water Quality, Over/Under Pressure, Water Balance, and more.

The following diagram depicts an event management process from start to end.

Managing Water Quality, Level of Service, Environmental Impacts and more

The overall responsibility of water utilities is not about managing assets, nor is it about managing Events. They are expected to deliver good quality product (‘water’), at appropriate pressure, in a 365/24/7 manner, with minimal environmental impact and at the lowest possible cost (it is a basic human civil right to get water). Achieving this target is highly dependent on being able to manage the three ‘entities’ mentioned above: Assets, Events and Customers.Integrated Event Management - The missing layer

Utilities around the world collect a large amount of raw data, from internal sources (meters, sensors) as well as external ones (customer calls, central control room of the city, etc.). An Integrated Event Management solution aggregates different data types, from different sources, and by using several technological approaches (Data Analytics) it is able to detect ‘significant events’ which is the first phase in the event’s full life-cycle. The ability to trigger that process is key and in most cases it is based on automated process.

From there on, the process continues according to the flow of information gathering about ‘the event’ and presenting it to decision makers in order to optimize their decisions, by getting higher visibility to each event or to any correlation between several.

Here is an example of a typical set of information that can be collected on each event and is needed in order to make smarter decisions. The table below shows a generic data set and a simple example with a water leak.

Smart Alert

Start Time

Classify

Magnitude

Location

Priority

Contain-ment

Tags

Actions/API

VerifyRepair

End TIme

SummaryInfo

Root Cause

Owner

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Peter WIlliams is the CTO of IBM’s Big Green Innovations unit (an in-house incubator for IBM’s environmental businesses, focused on carbon, water, alternative energy and computational modelling). He had over 20 years of experience as a strategy and change consultant working for Pricewaterhouse Coopers and subsequently IBM when PWC was bought out. He had a major role in de-veloping IBM’s smarter cities, water management and resilience businesses and developing IBM’s “smarter planet” positioning amongst other roles in the organisation. He is also a visiting lecturer at Stanford University

Amir Peleg is the founder and CEO of TaKaDu, a global leader in Integrated Water Network Management, allowing water utilities to improve network efficiency and make smart decisions and is also the Chairman of SWAN – the Smart Water Network Forum – a worldwide industry forum promoting the use of data technologies in water networks.

He holds a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (via the TALPIOT program) and an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.

General Event Example: Leak

Smart Trigger / Smart Alert The flow pattern in a specific supply zone has an abnormal pattern & higher levels of flow

Start Time Analyze the pattern, compare to the ‘normal’ behavior, and estimate when the leak started

Classification / Type Understand that this is a suspected leak

Magnitude / Size Estimate by means of analytics what is the magnitude of the leak. Is it 5 liters/sec? or 50 l/s?

Location Where the leak is? In which DMA or Pressure Zone?

Priority Which is more important now? A big burst in a suburb area? Or a small hidden leak in the city center? Which critical non-water assets (such as hospitals) might be affected?

Containment Which valves needs to be closed to limit the leak?

Owner Accountability – who has the responsibility to take the necessary actions and fix the leak?

Tagging Mark the event with sub-classification (e.g. there are several types of Leaks), some finer resolution of understanding the ‘event’

Actions & API Connect to any other IT system in order to streamline the process (Assets Management, Work Order Management).

Root Cause Possibly understand the root cause of the event

Verify Repair Confirm (automatically, by means of analytics) that the flow data is back to its normal values and normal pattern

End Time Measure the time when the event ended and mark the time it took to ‘repair’ the event (as an operational KPI)

Overall Measures How much water was lost in this event? How much time it took to resolve? etc.

The target of an Integrated Event Management system is to provide real-time, actionable “Event” alerts such as faults, leaks, bursts, pressure, flow and level anomalies, water quality, and telemetry problems. This enables water utilities to ‘know’ about all the events, to manage the situation by receiving valuable insights and informative details (e.g. type and location), as well as helpful management tools (e.g. event prioritization, the event’s root cause, and repair verification). Therefore providing benefits on both a tactical and strategic level.

Such a comprehensive, decision-making platform can be utilized across the utility from the analyst monitoring the network to the executive team considering long-term strategic goals or CAPEX investment for the next quarter (e.g. where to replace assets).

The Future of Event Management

Today, water utilities transmit and collect more data than ever before. Cloud computing provides a cost-effective approach for processing and analyzing large volumes of data (Big Data). Integrated Event Management systems allow utilities to respond to network problems in real-time and manage the full event life-cycle. This enables utility management to make more educated decisions about their network operations from event identification through categorization and classification, prioritization, resource allocation, and all the way up to closure.

It is our vision that Integrated Event Management systems will transform the way utilities operate, resulting in a culture change and improved managerial processes. Already, implemented by major utilities worldwide, these innovative solutions will continue to become the reality for modern cities as they strive to become more efficient and customer-centric. In the future, Integrated Event Management systems will become essential for utilities seeking to maximize the value of their data and raise the bar on their performance.

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Introduction

Biochemical Oxygen Demand or BOD is probably one of the most and also one of least known parameters in the Wastewater Industry. Everyone has heard of it and most people will have trouble defining what it is exactly, its mentioned a lot and very rarely defined. For the sake of this article it can be defined as:-

The amount of oxygen required by aerobic microorganisms to decompose the organic matter in a sample water, such as that polluted by sewage. It is used as a measure of the degree of water pollution.

Or better defined is the definition of the test

The molecular oxygen utilized during a specified incubation period for the biochemical degradation of organic material (carbonaceous demand) and the oxygen used to oxidize inorganic material such as sulphides and ferrous iron. (Clesceri et al. 1998)

For me I have always understood it by the analytical method that is used to measure it. In its simplest for you measure the amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria in a five day period in a jar that’s been put in the dark at 20°C for five days. Taking all of this aside it is a method that has defined the water industry for over a hundred years now with it being first devised by the Royal Commission in 1908. It is a measure of the organic strength of sewage and as it measures the Oxygen Utilisation Rate it is still a very useful parameter to this day. However the test has its limitations and probably chief among these is that it takes five days to analyse and thus has limited operational usefulness and thus cannot be used as a measurable parameter for control but also the test has limited accuracy and repeatability at concentrations less than 5mg/L O2. and the test is not valid unless at least 2mg/L of O2 has been consumed (Clesceri et al. 1998)

This last limitation is probably the most telling as discharge standards in wastewater treatment works are getting lower and lower with concentrations <10mg/L the limitations of the testing method have the potential to cause more and more problems. The question that has to be asked is what are the alternatives to measuring BOD in the modern wastewater industry?

The answer is there are several including:

• Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)• Respirometry• Total Organic Carbon (TOC)• Tryptophan and Tryptophan-like substances

Option 1 - Chemical Oxygen Demand

Chemical Oxygen Demand is a technique that has been used for many years and is a regulated parameter, in Europe under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. It is an indirect measurement of the amount of organic compounds in water and in crude (domestic) wastewater is often approximately 2 ½ times the BOD. It is a technique that has long been associated with BOD and in the past 10 years rapid online methods have meant that it can be used as a measurable parameter for control. The cost of the instrumentation has meant that the online measurement technique has not been particularly widespread across the domestic wastewater industry although it has been prevalent in industrial wastewater treatment.

The problem with Chemical Oxygen Demand is that it is variable as it goes through the treatment works so a great deal of work has to be done relating the BOD to the COD and establishing a firm ratio and making the assumption that this ratio will remain the same. If there are any changes within the catchment such as new trader or a change in the nature of the sewage then the ratio will also change. So relating the COD that is measured to BOD, if it is parameter that is still wanted is made a very difficult task. The problem is that COD measures significantly more of the oxygen demand that would normally happen when a substance is discharged to a water course and thus the usefulness of the measurement is limited when assessing the environmental impact of the pollutant load.

The benefits of the technique are such that it easily measurable either in the laboratory or online and with modern methods quickly enough to control a treatment process by. The usefulness for industrial purposes is clear, the potential in domestic wastewater is probably more limited by the price of the online instrumentation but again, as under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive it is a regulated parameter, it is surprising that it is monitored online more frequently.

Option 2 - Respirometry

Respirometry is probably the closest of all of the alternative measures of measuring organic load to BOD. The technique is a direct measurement of the oxygen consumed and was devised in the UK in the 1950’s. However the complexity of the technique has not seen it used beyond benchtop respirometers as it is simply too complex for wastewater operators. However in the past five to ten years this has started to change with online sonde techniques being used and more recently floating respirometers for wastewater treatment works.

The basic of respirometry works on the principle that In the aerobic tanks of a biological treatment plant, the complex molecules of the wastewater are broken down by the combined activities of heterotrophic bacteria (that break down organic carbon compounds), autotrophic or nitrifying bacteria (that

For Discussion:

Replacing BOD - Is it possible?

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break down ammonia) and other micro organisms. In terms of process control, there are three major processes at work: Biodegradation (the breakdown and removal of organic carbon and ammonia), Growth (growth and multiplication of the bacteria, which results in new biomass) and Respiration (oxygen consumption that provides the energy that the bacteria require for growth).

The three processes are interdependent. As a result, by measuring the rate of respiration, a measure of the rate of biodegradation can be obtained. For this reason, a respiration may be used as the control variable in process optimisation. If toxicity in the influent wastewater inhibits the respiration rate of the activated sludge, it follows that there will be an associated reduction in the rate of biodegradation.

It is probably in the more recent developments that this technique has come to the forefront with sonde like devices which have the potential of acting as control systems in either a feed forward mode at the start of a ASP process, within lane to control processes or at the end of the process to control the compliance position. These in-lane respirometers have the advantage that they are looking at process control and compliance rather than just a compliance position thus giving an added value to justify the cost of purchasing the instrumentation.

There are alternatives that have more recently been developed working on similar principles that again are used for control purposes.

Respirometry for almost 60 years, since its first development in the 1950’s, has suffered from the fact that it is too complicated a technique for anything but dedicated scientists on large treatment works and as manning levels within organisations has declined so has the ability to use the technique in operational situations. However the recent developments in instrumentation have made the devices that are available easier to use and on large treatment works where there is a desire to control the process not only for compliance but for efficiency as well then respirometry has a good potential.

The last benefit of using respirometry is the fact that it measures the actual oxygen utilisation rate and so in terms of environmental performance gives the regulating agencies a direct comparison between BOD and what is measured and for this reason it is probably the closest alternative to what the industry currently uses and regulates upon

Option 3 - Total Organic Carbon

The use of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) as an alternative to BOD came into the wastewater industry in 2013 when the WEF Laboratory Practices Committee hosted a webcast where three managers in the US Water Industry presented the case for using TOC as an alternative. This was done by measuring the relationship between TOC and BOD for several years to prove that the BOD could implied by measuring TOC and the relationship was stable. The testing done was enough to persuade local regulatory authorities that the TOC test was a valid alternative and comparable back to BOD results. The advantage being that TOC was measurable within 2 hours instead of 5 days and online analysers and sensors as a real alternative to the BOD test.

Subsequent work by instrumentation companies such as Hach has built upon the work done by the pioneering US water companies and this has shown that their is a good relationship between BOD and TOC. The technique has developed to the extent that it has now received USEPA approval under 40 CFR 133.104 and allows wastewater treatment plants to substitute TOC analysis for BOD monitoring of oxygen-demanding substances. WWTPs seeking to substitute and report TOC values for BOD values must conduct a long-term correlation study and submit results to the regulatory body that issued the NPDES permit to their facility. Study data must be collected using USEPA- approved methods intended for NPDES permit compliance reporting.

Further studies have shown that the online versions of TOC analysers have a similar accuracy to the laboratory versions showing that it is possible to conduct online TOC measurement within wastewater treatment works to not only measure compliance but also control the works as well.

The disadvantages of TOC as a replacement for BOD is that it is an implied measurement of BOD rather than an actual measurement. The correlation study that is the current acceptable technique in the United States should be checked to establish whether or not the relationship has changed. The further argument is that it is not a direct measure of the environmental impact on the receiving water course and could be used as a reason to unfairly discard the technique. To date it is not a technique that has been adopted outside of the United States, at least not widely. Is it an alternative to BOD, with the right conditions and the right correlation work that has been done, most assuredly

Option 4 - Tryptohpan Like Fluorescence

The last potential alternative to the BOD test is the measurement of Tryptophan and Tryptophan like substances using fluorescence spectrometry. The technique is a rapid detection technique that in the past five years has been developed as a technique to imply the organic pollution as tryptophan (amongst other amino acids) is a part of the human diet.

The technique has been in development for a number of years now and at least two companies have produced working sensors. The first versions of these sensors have had problems with interferences, mainly with Chlorphyll and more recently studies done by the University of Birmingham and in particular Kieran Khamis have looked at the affects of temperature and turbidity,

In Lane respirometry and ASP Control

Influent & Effluent BOD to TOC results from a study done by Hach

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At the most recent Sensing in Water Conference experiences from the field have identified problems with interferences with the technology (rather than any one particular sensor type) but a lot of the work has been done to both understand and account for the interferences that the technique but with specific site calibration of the technique it was possible to use it for monitoring of BOD by measuring Tryptophan like fluorescence (TLF). The conclusion of the paper was

“that for surface water applications without site specific calibration TLF sensors are best employed as qualitative indicators of organic enrichment and can be used to trace point source pollution. However, for treated effluents, natural waters (with site specific calibration), drinking water infrastructure and groundwa-ter aquifers quantitative in situ monitoring of reactive DOM using TLF submersible sensors represent a sensitive, cost effective solution.”

This agrees with the comments that were raised at the Sensing in Water Conference insofar as their are matrix effects on the technique and operationally in the field these affects are being seen but this is where a standardized material, such as L-tryptophan, has been recommended in the studies so far. What the presentation of the field experiences did reveal is that where the technique has been practically used in the field so far it has reaped great benefits and it is a technique that is worth using and developing further as it has become a useful tool where it has been used to date in environmental studies. What has not been fully trialled, or at least not released, is the use of the technology on wastewater treatment works where the stated specific site calibration could be carried out and the accuracy and repeatability of the technique assessed in this application.

Conclusions

The global water industry is coming to a point in time where BOD becomes a redundant test because of its inaccuracy and unreproducability at low range. The definition of the technique itself invalidates any measurement below 2mg/L and this is an inherent limitation of the technique. Consented levels of BOD in Environmental Permits are getting to the point where, at sub 10mg/L and less this limitation will start to become a problem for the water industry.

In this summary of the techniques that could potentially replace BOD as the regulated measurement of choice we have several options. Of these the only one that has been accepted for regulatory purposes to date is the measurement of total organic carbon. Although Chemical Oxygen Demand is a regulated parameter under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive it is not used to assess routine sanitary compliance.. Taking all of this into account the use of TOC does look to be the best alternative although the acceptability around the world has to be questioned as it only implies, through comparative studies, the pollutant load to the environment and the impact that this load has..

The alternatives are of course respirometry and the use of tryptophan like fluorescence and of these it seems that the use of respirometry has more benefit to the industry in control of large wastewater treatment works rather than the online monitoring of compliance due to the cost of these types of instruments. The alternative is tryptophan,which has been used to great purposes so far, but it also feels that there is more development to be done in order for it to be a mainstream sensors. Whether this is incorporating the recent work of interferences into the sensors themselves or more field trials to prove the accuracy of the technique. When this work is done and the accuracy of the technique proved then the message was that TLF sensors could be a gamechanger for the Global Water industry.

To answer the question that was in the title of this summary - is it possible to replace BOD as a regulated parameter within the water industry? With a lot of work the answer is of course yes. TOC has already achieved this in a number of wastewater treatment works in the United States of America and there is a huge potential for it to replace BOD but there are also other techniques in existence that could do the job and with respirometry and tryptophan we have these.

Industry News(continued)

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CTG’s new CDOM monitoring systems launchine at AquaTech

CTG’s new CDOM-Station and CDOM-Station Pro systems are being launched at AquaTech, Amsterdam (3-6 November 2015). These systems allow utility operation managers, process scientists and engineers to assess real-time levels of coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in water systems. This is achieved by detecting UV CDOM fluorescence, which has been shown to correlate with organic levels in a wide variety of water environments, providing significantly enhanced improvements in sensitivity over conventional absorbance methods. Applications for these new systems include managing disinfection by-product formation potential, assessing organic load through water treatment works, filter management, coagulation control plus monitoring the formation of THMs and HAAs.

The CDOM-Station comprises a single CTG UviLux CDOM fluorometer and a Watchkeeper wall mounted data display and logger. The CDOM-Station Pro includes an additional UviLux sensor, configured for detecting Tryptophan-like fluorescence. The second sensor provides additional sample information regarding potential bacterial contamination. The CDOM-Station & CDOM-Station Pro have been designed for both indoor & outdoor operation, with

the UviLux fluorometers either fitted within a water trough or mounted in flow-through manifolds for in-line operation. A single cable connects the UviLux fluorometers to the Watchkeeper display and logger unit where data is displayed on a colour touchscreen for internal logging. In addition data is also made available from a 4-20mA output.

November 2015

SWIG Innovation Workshop25th November 2015Warwick University, UKHosted by Sensors for Water Interest Group

January 2016

Coastal Pollution Monitoring Workshop27th January 2016Dublin City UniversityHosted by Sensors for Water Interest Group

WWT Wastewater Treatment Conference28th January 2016National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry, UKHosted by WWT

February 2016

Smart Potable Water Networks Workshop25th February 2016Saffron Hill, LondonHosted by CIWEM

WEX Global 201629th February - 2nd MarchLisbon, PortugalHosted by Water & Energy Exchange

March 2016

WWT Smart Water Networks17th March 2016Holiday Inn, Birmingham, UKHosted by WWT

Optimising Control of fouling with Smart SensorsDetails to be ConfirmedHosted by Sensors for Water Interest Group

June 2016

IWA Leading Edge Technology Conference13th - 16th June 2016Jerez de la Frontera, SpainHosted by the International Water Association

ACE 201619th - 22nd June 2016Chicago, Illinois, USAHosted by the American Water Works Association

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Conferences, Events,Seminars & Studies

Conferences, Seminars & Events SWIG Events in 2015-16

Innovation Workshop

Where: University of WarwickWhen: 25th November2015

Description

There is a wealth of new technology and innovation being developed in UK universities which often translates into the development of new products in industry. Successful translation and exploitation of academic research depends on recognising potential and forming necessary collaborations. This SWIG Innovation workshop is designed to bring together academic research groups and interested companies to identify potential technologies, collaboration, and exploitation opportunities in the area of sensor technologies developed for use in water.

The need for new sensor technologies for water is often driven by legislation and the need for regular measurements at lower concentrations, or the need for more rapid or more reliable measurements made at remote sensing sites. This encompasses a wide range of technologies that are used for measuring physical, chemical or biological parameters in or of water. For examples sensors that measure water pressure, height or chemical and biosensors for measuring dissolved components, or pollutants or micro - organisms. How remote sensors and sensor networks communicate reliably and securely, energy harvesting and data management are other important technology areas that form part of a modern water sensing system.

Coastal Pollution Monitoring Workshop

Where: Dublin City University, IrelandWhen: 27th January 2015

Description

The SWIG Coastal Pollution Monitoring Workshop will address the impact of EU Directives including Water Framework, Bathing Waters and Shellfish to monitoring of rivers through to coastal waters under current pressures from both industrial and natural pollution. The Workshop will provide delegates the opportunity to learn about current monitoring projects and practices from regulators, academics, water companies and sensor suppliers from both the UK and Ireland.

The workshop will look at monitoring technologies for application to coasts, ports, marinas affecting leisure users, fisheries, aquaculture and bathing waters.

The event is being hosted by Fiona Regan of Dublin City University

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