Preventing Rising Main Pollutions Through Machine Learning
Jul 21, 2021
Mounting pressure on utilities to achieve zero pollution events has accelerated sewer investment and action planning but rising main sewers pose a unique challenge. Better analysis of existing data can mitigate risks, says George Heywood, analytics innovation lead for technology specialist Ovarro.
Water companies in the UK are working on pollution reduction strategies with a sense of urgency, in line with Environment Agency and Ofwat expectations of more action.
Requiring particular focus will be rising main sewers – pressurised pipes that pump wastewater from a pumping station towards a treatment works. These are high risk, critical assets but with many in the UK ageing and becoming more vulnerable to bursts, historic programmes of proactive maintenance and investment may no longer be enough to keep up with the rate of deterioration.
Often situated in hard-to-reach, remote locations, including beneath rivers, railways and roads, and in environmentally sensitive areas, a burst rising main can have catastrophic ecological impact, with consequences that are unacceptable in the eyes of customers, regulators and stakeholders.
Technical and logistical limitations in rising main monitoring can mean utilities are alerted – often by a member of the public - hours or even days into the event. This is too late to take action that would prevent a pollution, so the likely result is a costly clean-up operation, financial penalties, prosecutions, and long-term reputational damage.
Advances in data science and artificial intelligence, including machine learning, mean the sector is now able to go beyond the basics of, for example, setting alarm thresholds on high flow rates. Sophisticated analysis of readily available data in near real-time means that much more reliable monitoring of rising main activity is now possible.
BurstDetect, Ovarro’s cloud-based early-warning system, accepts data at a range of monitoring frequencies with an algorithm being applied to understand and characterise ‘normal’ pumping station behaviour.. If a potential burst is detected an alert is sent to control rooms, often within 30 minutes of the incident occurring, significantly improving historic reaction time.
This “training and testing” approach to machine learning is becoming increasingly important to water companies, giving them more actionable insight than ever before, utilising data that may not have been fully harnessed otherwise. With so much available data, it is just not possible for humans to process and analyse the information themselves. By having the correct technology and processes in place, the stage will be set for utilities to rapidly increase their real-time and predictive capabilities.
Automated algorithms, such as those created for BurstDetect, can always be improved and as water companies begin to implement the technology, Ovarro’s data scientists will work with them to assess the accuracy of alerts. By growing this dataset, through continuous feedback, BurstDetect’s algorithms can learn and the data science teams can improve the technology continually.
Utilities have thousands of pumping stations to monitor but rising main pollution is considered inexcusable by the regulators, with the wider community becoming increasingly sensitive to incidents that impact the environment. Having access to the latest digital technologies puts pollution prevention in the hands of operators and will play a significant role as utilities seek to demonstrate and deliver their commitments to environmental stewardship.
More News and Articles
Mar 27, 2024
News
USU Study Looks at Water Main Break Rates in the U.S. and Canada
Report Highlights Correlation Between Material and Diameter
Mar 26, 2024
News
Update BE-21: New Material in Course and Modules on Trenchless Pipe Installation
Online training on the topic of pipeline installation in civil engineering: Trenchless technology for underground drainage construction can be a resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, time-saving, and cost-effective alternative to open cut methods. The UNITRACC e-learning course "Utility Tunnelling" has been enhanced …
Mar 25, 2024
Article
Bacteria as a new weapon in wastewater treatment
In early November, San Diego based startup Aquacycl officially opened its first European office and test center at the Water Campus in Leeuwarden. The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) and the Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands (NOM) …
Mar 22, 2024
News
A superior HDD offering
Building on its relationships with leading horizontal directional drilling companies, TRACTO Australia has delivered three new rigs to operator Superior HDD.
Mar 20, 2024
News
New portable water filtration technology could improve access to clean drinking water worldwide
The University of Texas at Austin has developed an injectable water filtration system with the aim to aid the over two billion people worldwide who are without clean drinking water.
Mar 18, 2024
News
Global Student Innovation Challenge Calls on Next-Generation Leaders to Tackle Water Security
High School and University Students Worldwide Invited to Expand Water Access and Community Resilience
Mar 15, 2024
News
New water treatment wins Prestigious Award
Introducing a advancement in water treatment, developed by Cardiff University researchers in collaboration with Origin Aqua, the FreeOxTM technology has garnered acclaim by winning a prestigious challenge award at the World Water Tech Innovation Summit. This single-step process not only …
Mar 13, 2024
News
Satellite-based river monitoring technique could provide early warning of flooding
A satellite-based method for monitoring the flow of rivers from orbit could provide a valuable early warning system for flood risk, University of Glasgow researchers have claimed.
Mar 11, 2024
News
Revitalising infrastructure with HDD
Through the use of horizontal directional drilling, TasWater is delivering a new sewer pipeline to improve sewer and stormwater transfer capacity in Launceston, Tasmania.
Mar 06, 2024
News
Picking up the pace on climate action: Building momentum from COP28
At the halfway point of the Paris Agreement, the legally binding international treaty on climate action, average global temperatures are already hitting 1.8°C above pre-industrial levels and future projections are stark. At COP28 in December, we could not escape the reality …
Mar 01, 2024
News
Luminescent sensor detects ‘forever chemical’ pollution in water
Researchers in the UK and Germany have developed a new approach for detecting pollution from ‘forever chemicals’ in water through luminescence.
Feb 28, 2024
Article
BETT installation demonstrating GHG emissions reduction of wastewater treatment
This study presents BioElectrochemical Treatment Technology (BETT) as a new wastewater management solution toward the Net-Zero future. The results reported herein were collected from a BETT pilot system installed at a large brewery in Los Angeles, CA, United States processing …
Contact
Ovarro Ltd
Kathryn Langley
Global Marketing Manager
Rotherside Road
S21 4HL Sheffield
United Kingdom
Phone:
+44 1246 437580