Let’s Solve Non-Compliance for Utilities by Adopting Holistic Thinking
Sector: Water Utilities
Challenge: Regulatory Compliance
Utilities are under increasing pressure to comply with, and stay ahead of, complex and challenging regulations. Failure to meet standards not only impacts on the millions of residential and commercial customers who expect delivery of clean, safe, reliable, and affordable water, but infringements can lead to substantial penalties, not to mention loss of reputation in the market and customer trust.
The solution lies with smart water management across the whole water cycle - embracing technology and digitisation to work more smartly and ensure compliance whilst also protecting the bottom line.
This integrated and holistic approach, from clean water treatment through to wastewater management, with Xylem’s range of certified solutions and services, can protect infrastructure, increase performance, build resilience, maximise profitability and reduce risk of non-compliance.
Quality Clean Water
From source to treatment, utilities face water quality challenges, both to meet the regulator’s standards and satisfy customers.
Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) regulations, to ensure clean drinking water, require careful monitoring of emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical residues. This can result in rising energy and operating costs, but connected thinking can reduce cost by improving resource management and maintaining quality across the system to minimize downstream treatment.
Xylem can provide a range of treatment solutions to tackle such contaminants and pathogens, alongside turbidity, colour, algae, pesticides, taste and odour. Online and laboratory equipment analyses water quality to ensure full process and compliance.
The latest developments in UV and ozone treatment have a growing role to play in reducing harmful chemical use and minimising environmental impact. UV systems destroy harmful microorganisms without adding chemicals or changing taste or odour, while ozone treatment has excellent disinfection and oxidation qualities.
In the event of a pathogenic outbreak which could challenge disinfection capacity, Xylem’s rental solution for drinking water treatment, including containerised UV reactors, provide cost effective emergency solutions to sustain production of safe drinking water.
Network Pressure
Ofwat demands of 15% leakage reduction by 2025 and Government pressure calling for a 50% reduction in leakage by 2040, places additional pressure on water companies. Reducing supply interruption (and managing network pressure), while maintaining an aging infrastructure is also a critical concern.
Customers similarly exert pressure for leakage reduction, to reduce water consumption to help conserve resources and minimise impact on the environment.
With Xylem’s pioneering inline free-swimming technology, a number of utilities have detected zones at risk of failure and significantly reduced leakage across their networks through optimised condition assessment and water-leakage detection.
Optimising metrology has also helped with identifying both real and apparent losses, to meet the stringent targets. It helps to measure water balance in sub water districts, identifies leaks, tightening up on commercial losses with non-revenue water and delivering more accurate billing for consumers based on improved domestic readings. Again, another target is met – improving customer service.
Optimising Wastewater Networks
Unforeseen sewer overflows due to extreme flooding events, or technical failure of the collection system, strongly contribute to deteriorating the good ecological status of the surface water. The Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) demands attention and action from each UK water company in relation to such environmental obligations, and a recent Environmental Audit Committee’s initiative to investigate evidence on water quality in rivers brings even more attention on the immediate need to revise the Environment Act for the protection of river water.
Smart technologies include monitoring systems such as BLU-X, a smart, end-to-end wastewater platform that helps optimise wastewater networks and operations at significantly lower cost. These can achieve a 20-30% reduction in overflow and flooding during a typical year.
Water companies similarly risk being let down by inefficient pumping station equipment along with aging infrastructure, bringing the threat of heavy penalties. Pumping systems must therefore be operating at design standards with piping that is not degrading.
Xylem staff, trained and experienced in understanding the latest legislation, can check pumps to ensure compliance, prevent failures and help to detect leaks. Expert teams can also conduct environmental surveys, analyse, monitor and consult.
A preventative maintenance contract can be tailored to your needs, whilst rental services provide an attractive alternative for emergency, temporary bypass or semi-permanent pumping of water and wastewater.
Intelligent Wastewater Treatment
A critical issue, and ongoing challenge, is the need for utilities to reduce their environmental impact, including the push by the Environment Agency to extend Bathing Water Quality standards to some UK rivers.
Xylem can support utilities to modernise existing treatment plants with intelligent equipment, better control systems and digital solutions. Integration of a real-time decision support system can provide a valuable audit trail, for example, allowing operators to record every operational decision taken to maintain quality. This offers the real-time evidence needed in the case of any unlawful discharge – as well as sounding the alarm and allowing a more rapid response to the cause.
Such improved process monitoring also ensures a stable and effective process, producing water that leaves the plant downstream as a highly valuable resource.
Given downtime is not an option in these critical operations, our municipal wastewater collection and treatment products include rental options for short-term needs, as well as the pumps, monitoring and management solutions that help you control costs and enhance service.
Effective oversight of site performance with the latest technologies in online monitoring and telemetry at this stage can help utilities to treat smarter, squeeze more treatment out of the same footprint, and reduce energy use.
Safeguard Interests Across The Board
No matter the challenge or the constraints, Xylem can support by determining the best approach to each system’s optimisation to boost compliance. From software for individual pumps to local lift station monitoring to a fully integrated network, the Xylem portfolio includes smart water solutions that deliver full hydraulic capacity from your system, reduce breakdowns and emergency interventions, save energy and water, and safeguard the interests, reputation and bottom line of your operation.
