iSMART project for remote water monitoring in regional NSW

State Water, the rural bulk water delivery business for NSW, has moved a step closer to realising its $18.6 million integrated surveillance, monitoring, automation and remote telemetry (iSMART) project, with the awarding of a contract to prime contractor Hunter Water Australia (HWA).

The project will allow State Water to remotely operate and manage dams, weirs, regulators and urban water systems, operating at the cutting edge of river operations and efficiently delivering bulk water throughout NSW.

“The continuation of the program will deliver innovative and sophisticated technology projects that will support State Water operations, as well as improve customer service levels for irrigators, local communities and the environment throughout regional NSW,” said State Water Project Manager Andrew Lavelle.

“We have been designing and developing iSMART to operate our assets for some time, and a lot of work has gone into ensuring the project complements other technology projects that are intrinsically linked. The signing of HWA puts us one step closer to the vision becoming a reality.”

HWA’s David Bowerman, Chris Watts and Greg Burgio with State Water’s Karen Isbester and Andrew Lavelle.

Lavelle said iSMART will “ensure improved data capture and greatly increase State Water’s decision-making capability”, helping the authority meet the challenges of high efficiency and real-time operations in a low-energy and -carbon environment.

Another technology project currently being implemented by State Water is the Computer Aided River Management (CARM) project, a $65 million program which uses infrastructure and technology upgrades to precisely calculate inflows and outflows to reduce water losses and maximise the efficiency of river operations, delivering water where and when it matters.

Works packages one to three, including management plans and site and system audits, are due for completion by December 2015, with program completion by June 2017.