SIWA Leak Finder detects leckages at Water Utility VA Syd (Sweden)
Sustainable water supply with Artificial Intelligence
SIWA Leak Finder detects leckages at Water Utility VA Syd (Sweden)
Sustainable water supply with Artificial Intelligence
Water
VA Syd
Malmö Sweden
VA Syd has been struggling with the leaking of drinking water in the pipelines for a long time causing water loss and thus impacting the economic performance of the water supply company. Subsequently, this also
increased pressure on natural water resources, as more water was produced than it was actually needed. Due to leackage, the lost water has been dispersing into the ground to the underlying sewage pipelines and thus the treatment plant had to purify already clean water. Moreover, the most crucial issue was how to deal with the justified saving behaviour on the consumer's side: How can consumers be required to save water when 20% of the clean water leaks into the ground?
To get started we introduced the leak detection solution with the SIWA Leak Finder. While collecting data from consumers' smart meters, we could offer SIWA Water Meters module to administer and keep track of all smart meters in the area.
A major challenge during the project was that the VA industry in Sweden required the "on premise" solution securing that all data and calculations are not saved in the cloud. We solved this with a locally delivered hardware where the software was installed.
If we discover leaks at an early stage, we have a lot to gain. Therefore, we started thinking about how we could reduce our water leaks, says Simon Granath.
We test and evaluate how to build the smart drinking water network of the future and do a proof-of-concept project on a small scale in Veberöd in Lund municipality to then scale up the solution, says Victor Pelin.
Part of our job is not to see that box. When it comes to digital solutions, there is often more talk than action, but this is an example of when technology actually becomes a technology that is applied practically and provides value to us today, says Victor Pelin.
We are at the beginning of a new digital era in our industry. We have just started looking at AI applications and more and more people are hooked. A lot will happen in the near future. For us, it is above all about improving real-time control, detecting deviations and making forecasts of flows. But we also want to use AI to do more predictive maintenance, make more efficient investment plans and get better interaction with customers, says Simon Granath.
Simon Granath and Victor Pelin, Development Engineers, VA Syd
VA south has now tested the system and can find water leaks smaler then 0,25 liters per second! VA Syd expects to save a lot of money in streamlining their physical leak detection and being able to focus their limited resources where it is most needed.
