Urban Utilities equipped over 300 maintenance holes with level sensors and Grundfos Telemetry Ex units, enabling reliable monitoring and timely alarms that have improved network performance and reduced overflow risk.
Urban Utilities
One of Australia’s largest water distributor-retailers, Urban Utilities delivers water and wastewater services to around 1.6 million people in South East Queensland.
The situation
Urban Utilities needed a solution that provided monitoring and trending of sewer levels at designated maintenance manholes within their sewer network, as well as the necessary alarm notifications upon detection of high sewer levels and overflow incidents.
Daily level trend data was required, while alarm notifications had to be raised immediately upon detection of a change in sewer level. All this information needed to be sent to the ClearSCADA system in the utility’s control room.
The installation of all equipment in a hazardous and confined space environment was part of the project. Until completion of the classification process, the sewer environment was considered a hazardous area.
The solution has enabled us to improve sewer network performance by helping us to identify bottlenecks in the system, ultimately providing a better service to our customers and the environment.
The solution
In 2012, a project to install sewer level sensors in maintenance holes commenced, with Grundfos appointed as the primary contractor responsible for the overall project management and roll-out. The scope of work included the supply, integration, installation and commissioning of over 300 manhole sites. NBIoT Pty Ltd, a local field installation team, was responsible for managing all field installations, whilst the ClearSCADA integration work was delivered by SAGE Automation.
At each site, Grundfos Telemetry Ex units were configured to wake up every 15 minutes to monitor the manhole sewer levels, using the Pulsar dBi HART Ultrasonic level sensor as a 4-20mA analogue signal. These levels are timestamped and stored in the RTU, which communicates with the ClearSCADA system once a day to upload the data.
During each level measurement taken, the unit also compares the measured manhole level to configured level setpoints. These setpoints are used to determine whether the manhole is in a ‘High’ or overflow event. If the level is in one of these states, it is reported to the ClearSCADA system, which in turn raises an alarm for control room operators to action.
Separately, another project was undertaken to investigate and trial products that enable remote sewer level monitoring in maintenance holes utilising cellular networks. The trial was undertaken with three different remote telemetry units, with the Grundfos Telemetry 4G Ex selected as the preferred RTU device.
Grundfos Telemetry Ex is an intrinsically safe ATEX/IECEx certified (to Zone 0, Gas Group IIB) self-contained datalogger / remote telemetry unit, with:
- Internal or external battery pack
- IP68-rated enclosure
- Either an IoT (NB-IoT/Cat-M1) or 4G (with 3G/2G fallback) modem
- Auto-switching internal and external antenna options
- Software configurable AI, CI, DI, Modbus and SDI-12 communication options (including Multidrop)
- Integrated submersion sensor
- Local diagnostic points
- Intelligent alarm reporting
It communicates with the Grundfos Connect Sensor Platform, DNP3/WITS DNP3 Masters, or FTP/S servers.
Key benefits
Grundfos supplied:
- Grundfos Telemetry Ex units
- SCADA integration
- Supply, installation & commissioning services
Facts:
- Topic: Sewer level monitoring & alarming
- Location: South East Queensland, Australia
- Customer: Urban Utilities
The outcome
The project proved highly successful for all parties. Many sites now have a monitoring solution in place that provides daily trend data together with detecting high-level and blockage events.
The Grundfos Telemetry Ex unit, coupled with the Pulsar dBi HART Ultrasonic level sensor, provided the ideal solution. It has a proven track record, as it is already widely used by various wastewater utilities for sewer manhole monitoring.
An added benefit is the DNP3 supported by the Grundfos Telemetry Units range, which enabled the RTUs to seamlessly integrate with Urban Utilities’ ClearSCADA system.
This project was originally implemented by Metasphere, a company acquired by Grundfos in 2023. The full Metasphere range of remote monitoring products and solutions for water and wastewater networks and environmental applications is now available through Grundfos.
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