Grundfos Telemetry Units and cloud-based SCADA services provide real-time notifications of potential flooding during storm events. Continuous data also supports model calibration and more proactive network operations.
We needed a cost-effective solution that would give us real-time notification of potential flooding during storm events.
Western Virginia Water Authority
The Authority provides water service to over 69,000 customer accounts and wastewater service for more than 60,000 accounts in the City of Roanoke, the Counties of Roanoke, Franklin and Botetourt and the Towns of Boones Mill and Vinton in Western Virginia, USA.
The situation
Western Virginia Water Authority is a mid-sized utility located in Southwest Virginia, USA, providing water and sewerage services to approximately 200,000 people. Similar to most municipalities in the Mid-Atlantic region, the sewer system has experienced wet weather overflows due to inflow and infiltration.
The Authority installs multiple sewer flow meters each year for six months between October and April, capturing flow from sewer metering areas (SMAs). The SMAs are prioritised for metering based on the normalised quantity of wet weather overflows. This data is primarily used for calibration of the Authority’s InfoWorks Integrated Catchment Model (ICM) hydraulic model, but is also used to determine the peaking factor between dry and wet weather flow.
“While the data is invaluable for these purposes and the temporary units provide alarms and can be remotely accessed, we needed a cost-effective solution that would give us real-time notification of potential flooding during storm events at fixed locations,” says Jim O’Dowd, Infrastructure Asset Manager at Western Virginia Water Authority. “The solution needed to be easy to deploy and require minimal support and maintenance.”
The Authority trialled various sensor options, initially using ultrasonic technology, but found that the setup and reliability of this option, especially during a flood scenario, was problematic. In addition, battery life and signal reliability were concerns. They approached Au2mation, an industrial control system provider, to co-develop a solution.
Au2mation recommended the battery-powered Grundfos Telemetry IoT/4G unit to solve the complex issues involved in aligning data output, telecommunications strength, and reliability of fixings. The challenge was to monitor the manholes effectively enough to anticipate storm and flood events, with an easy-to-deploy solution and the minimum of support and maintenance.
The accuracy of the sensor was more than sufficient to alert our staff when a 10 ft manhole is half-full.
The solution
The Au2mation and Western Virginia Water Authority solution was developed between 2015 and 2017 to monitor manholes across the network using equipment stationed at each monitoring point.
The solution uses a remote telemetry unit, pressure sensor, and pressure cable installed through a drilled hole in the side of the manhole over to a fibreglass box which contains the unit and external antenna.
The data collected is then communicated to the Grundfos Connect Sensor Platform, a cloud-based ‘SCADA-as-a-Service’ (SaaS).
Grundfos Telemetry IoT/4G is a self-contained datalogger / remote telemetry unit with:
- Internal battery pack
- IP68 unit 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
- Integrated submersion sensor
- Local diagnostic points
- Intelligent alarm reporting
It communicates with the Grundfos Connect Sensor Platform, DNP3/ WITS DNP3 Masters, or FTPS servers.
Key benefits
Grundfos supplied:
- Grundfos Telemetry IoT/4G units
- Grundfos Connect Sensor Platform (SCADA-as-a-Service)
Facts:
- Topic: Storm-event monitoring and flood alerting
- Location: Virginia, USA
- Customer: Western Virginia Water Authority
The outcome
The ideal alignment was attained in 2017. “The accuracy of the sensor was within a few inches of the ultrasonic, more than sufficient to alert our staff when a 10 ft manhole is halffull, and a foot below the rim respectively. There is no risk of the telemetry unit being submerged, and no need to open a manhole lid to change batteries or update the firmware,” said Jim O’Dowd.
Prior to this solution, drop manholes and manholes prone to pressurised surcharge could not be monitored; now, any manhole is a candidate for monitoring with pressure sensors and Grundfos Telemetry IoT/4G units.
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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