Chemical Engineering April 2023 - 50

Environmental Manager
What Manufacturing Sites Can Learn from
Municipalities About Water Loss
Accurate water-monitoring technologies support short- and long-term sustainability
goals in both municipalities and the industrial sector
James Dunning
Syrinix, a Badger Meter Brand
I
n recent years, São Paulo, Cape
Town and other major world cities
have come dangerously close
to running out of water, and the
criticality of water as a key business
asset has never been clearer.
Indeed, managing water risk is now
identified as a chief priority by industrial
giants around the world. But,
what about the industrial sector's
municipal bedfellows on which they
often rely for supply? Beyond the
industrial sector's monitoring and
strategizing headlines, the day-today
business of identifying leaks and
bursts and reducing their occurrence
in the first place is an emerging
area for minimizing water loss
and meeting environmental, social
and governance (ESG) goals. For
leak and burst management and reduction,
copying some pages from
the municipal playbook could well
pay dividends for the manufacturing
sector (Figure 1). This article provides
some success stories in leak
and burst monitoring from municipal
water organizations, and discusses
the key takeaways for industrial
water users.
Shutterstock
Water loss in a municipal system
Aging infrastructure and shrinking
freshwater sources are challenging
water utilities and pushing them to
take every available step to protect
treated water from loss. Providing
clean water for a price that consumers
can absorb is in the crosshairs
of strategy for water utilities, even
while daily residential demand has
been increasing due to a dramatic
rise in people working from home.
Additionally, utilities are facing growing
pressure from regulators to step
up water conservation and environmental
protection measures. In response
to those pressures, municipalities
have been focusing on the
following key areas, which are also
applicable to the management of
any industrial water process:
* Leak detection - both to save
water and because a significant
proportion of bursts on larger pipes
start as small leaks
* Instantaneous burst locating
so that the damage caused by
bursts, which can be significant,
is minimized
* Identifying and removing the
pressure spikes that occur on the
network from operations and usage.
Such spikes can significantly accelerate
the failure of a pipeline
Detect surges and avoid bursts
At the heart of leak detection and response
strategies are pressure- and
acoustic-monitoring technologies.
Small monitoring units may, for example,
contain a precise pressure
sensor, with network timestamping,
and a hydrophone for leak detection.
Such a system can fit easily
into hydrants and chambers and
collect data that can be analyzed
to detect leaks and pressure spikes
(also called " transients " ) and also to
locate a burst. Monitoring units may
also include a corresponding software
to generate alerts and alarms
to inform operators of critical events,
such as when pressure valves are
above or below desired limits. Modern,
cloud-based data platforms
can automatically track the source
location of bursts and major pressure
events.
High-resolution monitoring allows
users to detect and identify the
source of pressure spikes that can,
over time, cause significant wear
and tear on pipes and other assets.
Pressure spikes can be caused by
irregular pumping and valve operations
and also major offtakes being
turned on and off quickly without
any dampening. If a burst does
occur, the monitoring technology
should also be configured to locate
the burst quickly (within seconds),
allowing immediate mitigating
actions to be implemented to
minimize water loss, damage and
system downtime.
FIGURE 1. Burst and leak monitoring systems can help water utilities and industrial users make great
strides in their water-conservation efforts
50
Alongside those measures,
acoustic leak-detection technology
allows users either to survey or
permanently monitor pipelines. With
the units acting in pairs, the vibroacoustic
signature of leaks can be
detected - ideally, with external
noises filtered out. From there, the
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