Unitywater transitioned from periodic grab sampling of residual chlorine data to integrated, real-time monitoring. Grundfos Telemetry Units integrate with Chloroclam sensors to deliver high-resolution data to the utility’s SCADA system, improving operational control and helping optimise network performance.
Unitywater
Unitywater is a provider of safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater services to homes and businesses in the Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa areas of South East Queensland.
The situation
Unitywater provides essential water supply and sewage treatment services to over 17% of Queensland’s population. A critical component of their water quality management system is operational monitoring: the tracking of key parameters through the water supply chain. Historically, Unitywater made network operation and optimisation decisions based on ‘grab’ samples taken at fixed intervals, to improve the quality of water delivered to customers.
Grab sampling, in this case at 1-2 weekly intervals, is important tto verify water quality and provide assurance that upstream processes have been maintained, but is of limited benefit in understanding system performance at higher resolution. The data is not sensitive enough to pinpoint water quality changes in processes such as reservoir fill/empty cycles, pump station operations, high/low diurnal demand patterns, and source water changes. Real-time water quality monitoring is needed to improve visibility and data resolution online.
Unitywater therefore needed a water quality monitoring solution to be integrated with its SCADA system, with the following at each monitoring location:
- Plastic vented underground residential pillar (URP) including concrete base, with Unitywater name and logo
- All necessary plumbing, including DN25 HDPE valved pipework connection where noted
- Chloroclam (measuring Free or Total Chlorine) mounted within pillar
- Grundfos Telemetry Units mounted within pillar
- I/O Termination Cable
Commissioning had to be carried out by the Unitywater Operation Technology Team. Brisbane Electrical installed the RTUs and the Chloroclam devices.
The solution
Australian water authorities are already using Chloroclam to monitor the quality of their water supplies, and typically want the monitored chlorine residual data communicated to their SCADA systems. Because Chloroclam is a battery-powered device, Unitywater needed a battery-powered datalogger that offered a plug and play solution. The Grundfos Telemetry Unit range was the perfect choice as it can integrate Chloroclam to a SCADA system.
Integration requires a custom serial cable with internal smarts. Grundfos designed and prototyped a smart cable to convert Chloroclam’s bespoke protocol to Modbus. This allows the telemetry unit/datalogger to retrieve Chloroclam data using the standard Modbus protocol, which is then timestamped in the RTU for SCADA system use.
The Grundfos Chloroclam integration package includes:
1. Custom serial integration cable;
2. Integration with Application Note (detailing the configuration and verification process);
3. Configuration template for the telemetry unit.
The Grundfos Telemetry Units are configured to wake every 15 minutes to monitor, timestamp and store Free & Total Chlorine, along with Chloroclam device status data, using the new Chloroclam serial Modbus data. The timestamped data is uploaded to Unitywater’s ClearSCADA system four times a day. For mains-powered sites, the communications rate to ClearSCADA becomes once an hour.
Grundfos Telemetry Units are a range of self- contained dataloggers/RTUs, each 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 (including Multidrop)
- Integrated submersion sensor
- Local diagnostic points
- Intelligent alarm reporting
They communicate with the Grundfos Connect Sensor Platform, DNP3/ WITS DNP3 Masters, or FTP/S servers.
Key benefits
Grundfos supplied:
- Grundfos Telemetry Units
- Chloroclam sensor integration
- SCADA integration
Facts:
- Topic: Water quality monitoring
- Location: South East Queensland, Australia
- Customer: Unitywater
The outcome
Grundfos Telemetry Units coupled with the Chloroclam battery-powered water quality monitor proves an excellent solution to remotely monitor, pinpoint and verify water quality changes in key procedures such as reservoir fill/empty cycles, pump station operations, high/low diurnal demand patterns and source water changes.
It is now possible for many sites to deploy this monitoring solution, to generate data to ensure the maintenance of upstream processes or barriers, and optimise overall system performance.
The Modbus protocol supported on the Grundfos Telemetry Unit range enables the devices to seamlessly integrate with the Chloroclam water quality monitor.
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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