Water management has come under the spotlight in South Africa as the government embarks on an infrastructural overhaul and the arid country faces up to the fact that water conservation needs to become a priority for the nation.
Municipalities are looking for cost-effective, innovative ways to look after their water supplies and to manage their waste water facilities. eThekwini Municipality’s water and sanitation unit has embarked on a project to ‘green’ its rivers as part of its strategic business plan for 2010 and has contracted local specialist wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) communications solutions provider, Beyond Wireless, to provide a water quality monitoring solution.
Selva Mudaly, project executive at the water and sanitation unit, explains that the Green Rivers Project is aimed at addressing concerns raised regarding river water quality in eThekwini and its influence on the beach water quality. By installing the Beyond Wireless GPRS-based monitoring and control solution, eThekwini Municipality’s superintendents, managers and engineers will be able to receive all the information they need via the Internet on their PCs in near real-time. This will allow for a quick response to any problems such as faulty equipment or effluent overflows.
“The Beyond Wireless solution will save the Municipality downtime and prevent overflows that eventually end up in our rivers,” explains Mudaly. “The cost saving will be enormous and we can now plan in advance for regular maintenance and repairs and ensure that plants and equipment are working optimally.”
River water quality is influenced by various factors, including infrastructure failures (such as wastewater treatment works, sewer line breakages and pump-station overflows); urban run-offs; industrial spills; inadequate sanitation in informal human settlements; illegal dumping and stormwater infiltration into sewers from household cross-connections and industrial activities.
Mudaly explains that key focus areas for the water and sanitation unit are to ensure that pump stations do not overflow, that sewerage treatment plants meet their discharge standards and that blocked and broken sewers are attended to promptly.
The eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit has contracted Beyond Wireless to install 65 remote terminal units (RTUs) at selected prioritised wastewater treatment works within its network. Ian Lester, CEO of Beyond Wireless, notes that the company already provides the wireless communication and monitoring platform for the City’s 11kV medium-voltage electricity distribution network as well as providing condition monitoring.
Installation of the Beyond Wireless system is currently underway in the selected wastewater treatment facilities. “When the Beyond Wireless system is up and running, it will make the work of our superintendents, managers and engineers very much easier,” concludes Mudaly.
For more information contact Ian Lester, Beyond Wireless, +27 (0)11 243 2960, ilester@beyondwireless.co.za, www.beyondwireless.co.za
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