New Technology, New Possibilities: How Smart Asset Management Is Helping To Address Water Scarcity

Operators of water treatment plants are faced with managing hundreds of measurement devices of different types and ages, making it a challenge to ensure each one is working at best performance.

Julian Edwards, Product Manager for Continuous Water Analysis for ABB Measurement & Analytics in the UK, explains how smart asset management systems can meet this challenge and ensure accurate measurement performance that will help manage scarce water supplies more sustainably. 

Faced by the risk of increased water scarcity, the world is looking for new ways to manage its available water more sustainably. With multiple pressures, including extreme weather, outdated or inadequate infrastructures, and inadequate investment, even countries viewed as being blessed with abundant supplies of water are looking to improve the way they manage this vital resource.

The UN estimates there will be a potential global water deficit of 40% by 2030^[1], as demand outstrips the Earth’s capacity to supply fresh water. Already, some 2.2 billion people are without access to safely treated water supplies, while 4.4. billion live in areas with little or no sanitation^[2].

As the world prepares for a further two billion people by 2050^[3], water utilities are under mounting pressure to improve their supply and treatment infrastructures to ensure the world maintains an adequate supply of water.

Improvement through measurement

Water treatment is a complex process involving numerous mutually dependent stages, whether it involves producing safe drinking water or releasing treated industrial effluent to the environment. Because these processes form an interdependent whole, and with regulations and consents to meet, water utilities need to ensure they are working at optimum performance.

With a wide variety of parameters to measure, many instruments and analysers are required. Most of these parameters need to be measured continuously and can include pressure, temperature, flow and level, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. Chemical compositions such as chlorine, fluoride, aluminium, and iron also need assessing.

Other important factors that instruments can help assess include operational performance measures like efficiency, energy consumption, and if the equipment is likely to require maintenance.

Many water treatment plants will have a lifespan of 40-50 years, with much of the treatment equipment, including some measurement devices, lasting for around 20 years. Measurement instruments will therefore be diverse in their technology, communications standards, operating principles, and age.

Smart asset management systems are the best method to manage such a varied mix of devices, which on some sites could number in the hundreds or even thousands.    

Many devices offer a large amount of data that could be used to help optimise plant and process performance. However, the many different communications protocols, such as Profibus, Modbus, HART, 4-20mA and now Ethernet, has made it difficult for operators to extract full value from this data. This makes it challenging to gain a complete picture of process behavior or decide which instruments require maintenance.

A helping hand from smart asset management

Based on developments in field device integration, smart asset management systems collect and monitor data from different devices using different protocols in a single environment. This allows key indicators such as calibration to be checked against the device’s original settings, ensuring that accuracy is being maintained – any deviations or faults can be flagged for attention.     

Smart asset management systems give organisations the chance to shift from preventive maintenance – where equipment is maintained according to a schedule – to a predictive maintenance approach -where instrument data is used to spot and rectify potential problems well in advance.

Gathering and checking instrument data in real-time shows maintenance staff what is happening, taking the guesswork out of diagnosing faults and preventing wasted time and resources. Accessing this data also allows engineers to begin to tackle a problem before they arrive on-site – technologies that enable engineers to work more smartly, with remote access to maintenance, part information and online help from vendors’ experts, will become increasingly important as older staff retire and take their skills and experience with them.

Smart asset management systems also help ensure instruments are properly calibrated and maintained, achieving the measurement accuracy needed to meet compliance requirements.

Practical smart asset management

A good smart asset management system should not only collect the data, but also share it effectively to deliver maximum value. An example is ABB’s SmartMaster verification and condition monitoring platform.

This solution brings together operational, engineering and information technology platforms and data, connecting the physical and digital worlds in industrial applications. The platform monitors the status of entire fleets of devices, from anywhere, at any time.

Benefits include early detection of potential failures, verification of performance of instruments against calibrated settings, and the ability to check and predict lifecycle performance.

Data is shared simply and directly, with engineers able to see simple health status messages on their phone, tablet or other portable device, using the NE107 NAMUR standard. This helps avoid the siloing that has traditionally plagued the water industry.

Users can opt for on-premises or cloud solutions, giving the choice of managing their own data with remote support or having ABB manage it on a secure platform on their behalf.

Tackling water scarcity will depend on better management, which in turn requires the ability to accurately measure what is happening in a process and use this information to optimise plant performance.

By constantly monitoring device performance and ensuring that data can be used by engineers when and where they need it, smart asset management can help the water industry to optimise their supply and treatment infrastructures to manage water more sustainably.

Towards more sustainable water management

In a world where the demand for water continues to rise and finite freshwater resources are under threat, harnessing the potential of smart asset management systems becomes essential.

By embracing these technologies and adopting predictive maintenance strategies, water utilities can enhance their operational efficiency, comply with regulations, and pave the way for a more sustainable water future.

The path to effective water management starts with smart asset management, ensuring the availability of our most precious shared resource for generations to come.

References:

^[1] Source:  United Nations – ‘World Could Face Water Availability Shortfall by 2030 if Current Trends Continue’

^[2] Source: United Nations World Water Development Report 2023

^[3] Source:United Nations – ‘Our growing population’