Intelligent Water Quality Networks

The revolution of intelligent water networks started with the integration of mobile telephony technology as a communications platform for analytical equipment, the first of which started with battery-powered pressure and flow monitoring devices. These pressure and flow monitoring data loggers were used to great effect to reduce non-revenue water loss during the millennium drought in Australia. The loggers had general packet radio service (GPRS) communications so that they could be deployed in remote areas, with the data being transmitted back to a central location for analysis.

With the internet of things (IOT), today’s technology is growing at a rapid pace. While pressure and flow monitoring is still a very current issue, the need to understand and manage more water quality parameters has seen the development of analytical sensors using GPRS/GSM technologies.

Evoqua Water Technologies is offering two products to address this need with sensors providing high-resolution monitoring of critical water quality parameters, as well as pressure and turbidity monitoring.

Chloroclam^® Water Quality Monitor

The battery-powered, GPRS/GSM-enabled device provides free or total chlorine measurement using the Wallace & Tiernan^® FC1 or TC1 membrane probes, while also measuring temperature. Customers using the Chloroclam monitor have been able to optimise network re-chlorination, understand water age and identify chlorine dead zones in their networks. The Chloroclam monitor has reduced the need for time-consuming manual diethyl phenylenediamine sulfate (DPD) testing, and has reduced health and safety issues associated with manual dosing of sodium hypochlorite. The Chloroclam monitor also has a smart phone app, which visualises the chlorine residual reading in real time. The app can also provide on-site calibration adjustments to the Chloroclam monitor via Bluetooth communications.

Hydraclam^® Water Turbidity and Pressure Monitor

The battery-powered Hydraclam monitor has the ability to measure pressure, low-range turbidity and electrical conductivity. The Hydraclam monitor measures water quality parameters to help customers to calibrate hydraulic water models, understand the flow patterns of mixed water sources and predict water discolouration events in the network, among many other applications.

The Chloroclam and Hydraclam monitors communicate via a secure web portal. The web portal incorporates Google Maps for device visualisation and network location. The web portal enables alarm functionality for user-defined alarms that can be sent via SMS or email. The web portal also offers a data analysis tool to understand the data that is being transmitted from the devices. The sampling frequency and data upload times can be adjusted by the customer to suit their data requirements.

The Chloroclam and Hydraclam monitors are highly mobile and portable loggers. They connect to existing fire hydrant points in the reticulation network, so no mains tappings are required. Evoqua Water Technologies also provides mechanical protection (enclosure) options for both sensors, fast and safe connection, fittings and instructions. The high mobility of the loggers enables customers to rapidly deploy the loggers across their network zones.

Gone are the days of waiting for water quality laboratory reports to highlight issues in the reticulation network. Next to real-time water quality data is available now with the Chloroclam and Hydraclam monitors.

These innovative products complement the large Wallace & Tiernan^® product line of analytical and control equipment for water treatment/disinfection in gas or liquid chlorination.

Wallace & Tiernan^® — the inventors of the chlorinator more than 100 years ago, still delivering safe water solutions for generations to come.