Welcome to WaterCon, 2023
If you’re interested in technology developments in the water utility sector, this is the event for you. Hear from industry experts and choose the technology streams that are most relevant to your role. Join us in May.
Tag Archive for: water utilities
Welcome to WaterCon, 2022
If you’re interested in water conservation this is the event for you. Three venues, three dates in Cavan, Charleville and Dunboyne during the months of May and June. Hear from watercon experts near you with a keynote from watercon specialist, Mike Wiltshire of Irish Water.
Regional wastewater treatment improvements driven by major telecoms infrastructural project
Wastewater treatment efficiency in Donegal has been significantly improved thanks to the completion of a major SCADA, automation, telemetry and telecoms infrastructure project by EMR Integrated Solutions.
Integrated SCADA and Telemetry Network for Monitoring of Disinfection System for Irish Water
EMR was awarded a contract for the provision of an integrated SCADA and telemetry system for the monitoring of newly-installed disinfection systems in small treatment plants and storage facilities across the west of Ireland covering Mayo and Leitrim. This was completed on behalf of Irish Water for Mayo County Council.
EMR eases network modernisation drive for UK’s Affinity Water
Leading telecommunications and SCADA network supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced the completion of a project with Affinity Water to ease the company’s network modernisation drive and migration to WITS/DNP3*, with a phased transition from analogue to digital radio on its water distribution network.
This infrastructure upgrade is critical in allowing Affinity Water to enhance network security, remotely monitor and manage its water distribution assets in the field and significantly reduce maintenance costs.
Affinity Water is the UK’s largest water-only supplier and delivers an average 900 million litres of water each day to a population of more than 3.6 million people in South East England.
Using technology based on Racom’s RipEX Migration Station, which seamlessly supports analog and digital radio operation on the same channel, Affinity Water can upgrade outstations to WITS with RipEx digital radio on a site-by-site basis, without impacting the legacy outstations on the network. This reduces overall installation cost and drastically reduces downtime and project risk.
Commenting on the project, Andrew Fletcher, telemetry systems manager with Affinity Water said:
“The cost of migrating from analogue to digital shouldn’t be underestimated. With the RipEX migration master station that we now have, we don’t need to revisit sites twice to change frequencies and we don’t need additional base stations or licenses. There’s a big benefit to that and it significantly reduces the cost of resource on the ground,” he said.
The deployment of Racom RipEX radios at 5 scanner and 150 outstation sites allows for remote monitoring of network assets together with telemetry network performance monitoring, resulting in a reconfiguration of Affinity Water’s maintenance program at significantly reduced cost.
“The legacy analogue radio system was incapable of supporting the rollout of newer automation technologies,” explains Mark Quinn, managing director with EMR Integrated Solutions.
“We recommended Racom’s Master Station and RipEX radio based on the ease of implementation, software defined functionality and high data throughput with encryption and authentication as standard.”
EMR worked closely with the Affinity Water telemetry team on the pilot project, providing training and support for the initial scanner transition. Affinity Water’s telemetry team will carry out the balance of the migration with ongoing support as required from the EMR crew.
“Our radio rollout is happening exceptionally fast,” adds Mr Fletcher. “That tells me our engineers are comfortable with the technology. EMR might be based in another country but their team are more than willing to make themselves available at short notice and that geographic distance doesn’t cause an issue.”
ENDS
*Editors Notes: The WITS-DNP3 protocol defines a standard method to achieve water industry telemetry control and monitoring requirements with a single protocol to support multiple vendors.
Pictured above is Mark Quinn, managing director of EMR Solutions.
EMR selected by Irish Water to upgrade telemetry networks in €1m deal
Dunboyne, Co Meath, Friday 1st September 2017: Leading SCADA network and mobile telecommunications supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced it has been selected by Irish Water to upgrade its telemetry networks in Waterford and Leitrim, in a deal valued in excess of €1m.
The upgrade plays a significant role in the battle against ‘unaccounted for water’, giving Irish Water greater monitoring capability and control over the water distribution network in those counties. Increased automation and more granular visibility into water flows, pressure and quality provides early warning alerts to network bursts and improves the quality of supply for customers.
Commenting on the deal, Mark Quinn, managing director with EMR Integrated Solutions said:
“This capital investment project supports Irish Water’s ongoing efforts to streamline water distribution networks in the county, and having greater control over assets in the field allows them to quickly identify and react to adverse events as they occur. Minimising network leakage is a key objective and the ability to remotely measure and monitor flows plays a critical role in helping Irish Water to achieve that.”
The Waterford network upgrade involved consolidating the telemetry network across the city and county, following the merger of both councils in 2014. Telemetry Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) and data loggers were deployed at over 200 logger sites* to monitor water flow and pressure on the pipe network, providing early warning alerts to network bursts.
The system also enables data acquisition from major water assets such as reservoirs and pumping stations and for automated remote control of these sites from the central SCADA system.
In Leitrim, the EMR team installed telemetry RTUs and GPRS data loggers together with the associated flow and pressure monitoring instrumentation at over 90 sites**, tying them back to the centralised SCADA system in Carrick-on-Shannon. This system augmented the extensive SCADA and telemetry network previously installed by EMR in the major water treatment plants and water distribution assets throughout the county.
“We build our telemetry networks based on principles of resiliency, reliability and flexibility, explains Mr Quinn.
“Where we have onsite telemetry, Irish Water can monitor and control the water network remotely, increasing operational efficiencies, reducing waste and providing faster response times to adverse events as they occur.
“Utility providers are increasingly adopting the concept of smart networks and EMR is at the forefront of designing and deploying the technology to help them plan for the future,” he said.
EMR has a strong track record in the water utility industry. The company has already performed two major network upgrades for Northern Ireland Water valued at well over
€1m and last year it announced its entrance to the UK market.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
*30 Remote Terminal Units or RTUs plus 175 data loggers which use GPRS networks to transport data were deployed in Waterford.
**30 RTUs with mains flow meter, 30 GPRS loggers with battery powered flow meters and 30 mechanical flow meters only, were deployed in Leitrim.
Pictured left to right are: Mark Quinn, managing director, EMR, Paul McMahon, executive engineer, Leitrim County Council and John McElwaine, capital programs regional lead, Irish Water
Web-access SCADA and reporting software that’s operationally transformative for South Dublin County Council
Leading SCADA and instrumentation provider, EMR Integrated Solutions recently announced a major contract to provide a SCADA system to monitor the operation of the six largest pumping stations within the South Dublin County Council (SDCC) network.
The project delivers a far greater level of control to the council’s staff in relation to the monitoring and management of the water and wastewater network. Read more
Improved operational efficiency and reduced response time to plant failures for Meath County Council
EMR recently secured a €250,000 contract win with Meath County Council to provide real-time monitoring of the county’s wastewater facilities
The primary objective of the project is to improve operational efficiency and reduce response times to plant failures. The initial system comprises a web-connected SCADA server linked via high power radio to 30 main wastewater collection and treatment assets. Read more
Leitrim County Council leads the charge in the battle against ‘unaccounted for’ water
EMR Integrated Solutions recently announced its selection by Irish Water to upgrade the water utility network in Leitrim, in a six-figure deal.
The upgrade gives Irish Water greater control over the water distribution network, allowing for a higher degree of automation and closer management and monitoring of water flows, pressure and quality.
It also plays a significant role in the battle against ‘unaccounted for’ water. Read more
EMR performs upgrade on island’s largest radio-based telemetry network
Northern Ireland Water (NIW) is a government-owned water utility serving a population of 1.7 million across the province of Northern Ireland. With the second largest network of pipelines, water and wastewater treatment plants in the UK, NIW operates the largest single, radio-based telemetry network on the island of Ireland.
This network has formed a key part of NIW infrastructure for the past 10 years and provides real time monitoring of critical infrastructure. In 2011 EMR was awarded a €1.8 million contract to upgrade the network from the legacy analogue radio technology to a state-of-the-art digital radio network based on the 4RF Aprisa platform. Read more
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