Innovative cooperation between water utilities ensures the water supply

New control system for the water community
Picca has developed a control system for a new water community in Northwest Zealand - for the benefit of citizens and water-using businesses in the area.

Until now the utilities in Gislinge, Svinninge, Kundby, Stig-Bjergby, Jyderup Eastern, Mørkøv and Knabstrup are supplying water to the community, which consists of a total of 50 water utilities.

The extensive project and system is the first of its kind in the Danish water supply and is implemented in three phases. The first phase is completed and the second phase - expansion of existing utilities – will be implemented by next year. Then phase three begins, which is primarily an expansion of Svinninge Waterworks. When the system is fully operational, it is expected that the seven utilities will supply approximately 1.9 million cubic meters of clean water in drinking quality each year.

"The principle of the new system is almost the same as when consumers are provided with electricity. We have simply used the existing network and send more water through. The result is more fresh water, and that we can secure water supply to area residents and businesses. The infrastructure will now be adapted to the need, unlike earlier where capacity was the constraint on the amount of water that could be delivered", says director Jørgen Høj from the water community (Vandfællesskabet Nordvestsjælland A.m.b.a.).

It is Picca Automation A/S, which has delivered and implemented both hardware and software to the control system. Moreover, the company got the challenge of proving the benefits of cooperation among water utilities. The water utilities operate as independent entities that actually sell the water to the water community. But the water community ensures a more efficient operation of the utilities, better monitoring of the production and a greater supply security than the individual utility can offer.

Automatic control and wireless controllers
Nine gauge wells are scattered over an area of approximately 13 km in diameter and fitted locally with 3 x 400 V low voltages. The wells are equipped with a switch panel, control valves, pressure and flow meters, needed pumps and a cell phone module. Monitoring and control is handled via the GSM cell phone network. The collected data is sent wirelessly to the central monitoring station at the water community office in Vognserup near Holbæk.

"We have entered the setpoints according to the existing capacity and known consumption through a period of time. In the new network, the water can run both in and out, and the former network can be used as a transport network. For example, the utility in Kundby was previously only associated with the network in Svinninge. Now the water flows from Kundby to the gauge well in Svinninge and from there on to a new gauge well and into the water community network", says Jørgen Høj and continues: "Hour by hour I adjust through a spreadsheet the number of cubic meters every utility has to supply. The values are sent via the GSM network to the gauge wells".

If the back-pressure is too large, the PLC governs the flow in the well down. The flow is regulated upward if the back-pressure begins to drop. If the level in the local cleanwater tank becomes too low, the transport valve closes before the utility’s own consumers will have a lack of water. This control system is wireless, because all utility controls also are equipped with the wireless GSM technology. If Kalundborg can not absorb the expected water amount, the pressure in the main supply will increase and the automatic control will lower the supply.

"We were quite comfortable with the choice of Picca Automation, especially when our adviser on the project, the engineering firm Rambøll, already knew the company and its solutions. The cooperation has gone well and there are only some small adjustments before the site is completely finished", concludes Jørgen Høj.