DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TRIALS SET TO DRIVE WATER INDUSTRY FORWARD

The Intelligent Water Networks’ Flagship Program is currently carrying out 3 technology based trials. Each trial is investigating a different data management software, so that Victorian water corporations can decide which system, if any, they’d like to adopt going forward. Each system being trialled has been designed to better manage and integrate data so as to improve customer service, business processes, asset management and field operations.

Western Water is currently trialling Waternamics by Veolia and IBM, which is a software designed to integrate every facet of a water corporation’s operation. The Waternamics base platform displays integrated data and automates standard operating procedures. Additional modules offer specialised functions to assist specific operations, i.e. management of drinking water, wastewater, energy, customer service and work orders. Waternamics software will be linked to five existing management systems within Western Water as well as the GPS devices fixed to their vehicle fleet and stationary assets. Other corporations will be able to experience the platform via a ‘sandbox environment’ and the trial at Western Water will conclude in June 2018.

The second data management platform set to be trialled is iᵌ software by AECOM. This trial is being considered for Barwon Water, with Westernport Water and Gippsland Water observing, and Deakin University, Schneider Electrics and SEAMS UK advising. If it proceeds, the project will involve an Enterprise Decision Analytics platform to improve management of water and sewer mains and pumping stations. A second project under consideration (and open for participation by other water utilities) involves the use of predictive analytics on telemetry data to improve pump performance and efficiency. 

OSIsoft PI software by Green Technology Services is the third data management system that the Flagship Program is investigating, and this platform will be piloted at Lower Murray and East Gippsland Water until April 2018. OSIsoft PI is a cloud-based data management system that can aggregate, analyse and display real-time data from distributed assets, to streamline operations. Green Technology Services completed the design and build phase of the project in August 2017, and will continue to provide guidance to the two corporations with relation to their ongoing use of the PI software and analytics display throughout the course of the trial.

It is hoped that these data management solutions will ultimately assist water corporations in making sensible and cost-effective asset investment and business decisions.