Smart Water Project of the Year
Wellington Water intelligent network management, New Zealand
What is it?
Wellington Water worked closely with ABB to take the resiliency of its drinking water infrastructure to the next level, implementing state-of-the-art flow meters and variable frequency drives to deliver crucial efficiency gains. The dual solution instantly took Wellington’s network monitoring – and management – up a notch, while simultaneously sparking a wave energy savings across pumping stations.
What has it done?
The partnership quickly delivered on its promises in 2022, offering energy efficiency gains of up to 10% while enabling Wellington Water to better monitor network volumes with high-accuracy flow meters. Deploying these devices created an impressive system of connected monitoring points, all capable of measuring flow data in real-time to bolster leakage reduction initiatives.
What makes it special?
With pumping occupying the lion’s share of a utility’s energy consumption, ABB’s intelligent drives were well placed to deliver crucial efficiency gains, squeezing important savings from one of the water cycle’s most intensive energy users.
As scarcity concerns continue to pile pressure on drinking water operators, intelligent and accurate network monitoring has quickly become a necessity. Implementing ABB’s high-accuracy flow meters now means Wellington Water can rise to the challenge, closely tracking network flows to ensure every drop is accounted for.
Built-in verification tools and anomaly detection capabilities have ensured the project can be a lasting one, enabling operators to secure the longevity of their devices with sophisticated asset management tools. In a sector ever pushed to maximise the value of investments, Wellington’s digital infrastructure is now well placed to deliver far into the future.
Distinction
Intelligent Network Renewal Programme, Singapore
What is it?
A transformative collaboration between Suez, Echologics and PUB came to the fore in 2022, with a combination of acoustic sensing and risk-based analytics cutting leakage rates to record lows. By pairing Echologics’ condition assessment technology with Suez’s analytics platform, Singapore’s pioneering water operator has been able to prioritise pipeline renewals like never before, delivering sizable capex savings while guaranteeing resiliency in the face of climate change.
What has it done?
Singapore’s stand-out approach saw record leakage reduction rates, dropping from 22 leaks/100km/year in 2015 to just 12 leaks/100km/year in 2022. Equally impressive is the utility’s pin-point approach to pipeline renewals, which has shaved millions off its investment requirements and freed up capital for other projects.
What makes it special?
In a world where squeezed utility budgets meet mounting investment needs, PUB’s approach has proved that digital is about doing more with less. The highly targeted condition assessment project – in conjunction with Suez’s analytics platform – enabled PUB to formulate intervention plans worth their weight in gold, replacing guesswork with digital intelligence.
Situated in one of the most water-sensitive regions of the world, a leaky network is not an option for Singapore’s award-winning operator. Never willing to back away from the challenge, the utility’s seminal work has enabled it to replace 100km of high-risk cast iron mains since 2020, bringing the city one step closer to a resilient water future.
PUB’s project has also proved that collaboration is king. In a sector where digital rivals often compete against each other, the synergies unlocked through combining multiple solutions shows that no company can usher in the digital transformation alone. Instead, the work of PUB, Suez and Echologics proves that bringing stakeholders together must be recipe for digital success.