• Regional wastewater treatment improvements driven by major telecoms infrastructural project completed by EMR

The Requirement

In the north west of Ireland, the county of Donegal is one of the most beautiful in the country. With rugged cliffs, deserted beaches and breathtaking scenery, it forms part of the famous Wild Atlantic Way, a tourist trail, which welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe each year.

When Veolia Ireland was awarded the contract by Irish Water to design, build and operate a number of new and existing waste water treatment facilities in Donegal, EICA Manager, Seamus Hunt knew that he’d have to tender out the SCADA, plant automation and telecoms infrastructure work. After all, reliable, high speed connectivity between wastewater assets is mission-critical and forms a core part of being able to drive efficiency in the wastewater treatment process.

With four new wastewater treatment facilities to be constructed and seven existing sites requiring a telecoms upgrade, choosing a single vendor capable of completing the entire portfolio of work was the preference from the outset.

The wastewater treatment facilities cater for a number of important tourist towns including Ballyshannon, Killybegs, Glencolumbcille, Convoy, Bundoran and Rossnowlagh.

Following a competitive tender process by Veolia Ireland, the contract was awarded to EMR.

“We knew we had to sequence the site upgrades for Veolia. Most were brownfield sites so we had to keep those operational while they were building the new facilities.”

Mark Quinn, Managing Director, EMR Integrated Solutions

The Solution

Veolia wanted a turnkey solution for their latest wastewater treatment project and the EMR team duly delivered. Thanks to deep technical knowledge and a long track record of working on similar projects, each wastewater treatment facility was brought online without any interruption to service.

Careful sequencing of each site was meticulously planned and each stage of the work was completed on schedule. Radio telemetry facilitates the transfer of data from field assets while the SCADA and PLCs were programmed and connected to provide granular visibility and effective control of the network.

Four of the sites were greenfield and required network design and deployment services while the remaining seven satellite sites were upgraded from existing infrastructure which had been previously deployed by the EMR team.

“With the depth of our skillset, the EMR team have built up a core competence in utility networks. The Veolia project was completed on time and on budget and is added to the long list of service providers who view EMR as the technology partner of choice for the water industry.”

Mark Quinn, Managing Director, EMR Integrated Solutions

Solution at a Glance

  • Design, Build and Deploy SCADA, plant automation and telecoms infrastructure for four newly-constructed wastewater treatment facilities
  • Upgrade of existing telecoms infrastructure at seven satellite sites
  • Radio telemetry connecting field assets to main wastewater network
  • Programming of SCADA/PLC and integration back to Veolia’s wastewater management systems
  • Plant automation at each site
  • Provision of remote access for Irish Water staff to remotely access key systems
  • Project management and close co-ordination of upgrade works with Veolia staff to ensure seamless transition and no system downtime

Benefits at a Glance

  • Seamless transition to new wastewater facilities with no system downtime
  • Improved wastewater treatment efficiency driven by greater visibility and management of the network
  • Higher water quality thanks to resilient, reliable telecoms connectivity across the wastewater network in County Donegal
  • Remote troubleshooting capability thanks to secure remote access to key systems and data
  • Turnkey solution from the EMR team with reduced supplier management overheads for Veolia

The Benefits

In awarding the contract to EMR, the big benefit to Veolia Ireland was single supplier management. The EMR team were already familiar with the setup, having worked with Veolia over a 20-year period and EICA Manager, Seamus Hunt knew that the communications infrastructure at these key locations was in a safe pair of hands.

Supplier management overheads were low as the EMR team were able to work independently and concentrate on getting the job done, which they did on time and on budget.

The close relationship with EMR’s management team ensured swift escalation and responsiveness throughout the course of the project.

“We were chosen by Veolia as our team were able to take a holistic approach to the project. They could do the comms, the plant automation and the SCADA. They were also familiar with the existing setup as they had deployed the original infrastructure years earlier.”

Mark Quinn, Managing Director, EMR Integrated Solutions

About Veolia Ireland

Veolia is Ireland’s leading environmental services company. It provides a comprehensive range of energy, waste and water solutions and is dedicated to carbon reduction, protecting the environment and building the circular economy.

Veolia in Ireland works with its customers to carefully manage scarce resources. Through its expertise in operations, engineering and technology it reduces the environmental impact of its customer’s activities while helping industrial companies, services organisations and the public sector to operate in a more efficient manner.

Veolia’s 561 employees in Ireland are part of the world’s leading provider of environmental solutions.

  • 2.3 million people benefit from Veolia’s drinking water, wastewater and sludge management infrastructure
  • Veolia has saved 30,689 tonnes in CO2 emissions for its customers through implementing energy efficiency projects.
  • Veolia boasts an 82% material recovery rate for hazardous waste

Seamus Hunt, EICA Manager with Veolia and Mark Quinn, Managing Director with EMR

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