Influx of stormwater and infiltration of groundwater into wastewater techniques is a continuing operational problem for managers. Now, Håbo municipality in Sweden is tackling the problem head-on with an revolutionary digital strategy, says Adam Wooden, chief product officer at water analytics firm Infotiles.
Water utility managers in Håbo, a small municipality north-west of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, started conversations with InfoTiles in 2023, once they suspected infiltration of wastewater and influx of groundwater into wastewater networks (I&I) was including huge volumes requiring transport and therapy.
Managers wished to research I&I additional and wanted tangible proof to display the necessity for funding however had been dealing with budgetary and operational constraints. Utilizing management system knowledge along with climate knowledge and evaluation of wastewater networks utilizing in situ sensors, the collaboration sought to find out when and the place I&I used to be occurring and determine on the suitable response.
Gathering proof
Influx is stormwater that flows into wastewater pipes via faults equivalent to holes, cracks, joint failures, and damaged connections. Infiltration happens when groundwater enters the wastewater community via faults in pipes, compounding the move.
Magne Eide, chief working officer at Infotiles, stated, “InfoTiles set out to show Håbo municipality what the cost of not maintaining its wastewater network to prevent I&I would be, versus investing money now. Water managers wanted to understand what the maintenance opportunities were, so they could create a wider business case to be put forward for funding during the 2025 budget process.”
Servicing a inhabitants of round 18,700, Håbo’s water utility treats about 4 million m3 of wastewater per yr. InfoTiles found that 18% of that water is incurred via I&I, resulting in SEK13 million (roughly €1.3 million) of additional working prices yearly equal to virtually SEK700 per inhabitant (roughly €61).
Vitality use is a big a part of the extra therapy and transportation prices concerned in processing I&I, which implies lowering vitality consumption represents a possible saving on operational expenditure once I&I is remedied. Additional vitality consumption additionally represents the next carbon footprint, so precisely figuring out and stopping I&I will help utilities meet carbon commitments, together with web zero targets.
Compounded move
For a lot of utilities and municipalities, I&I can account for a median of 20-50% of the annual move in sewers, however throughout snow soften and moist autumns, this determine is far increased.
It’s extensively acknowledged that almost all I&I is attributable to ageing infrastructure that requires upkeep or alternative, however some can be attributable to misguided connections equivalent to constructing drainage and rooftops linked to the unsuitable pipes. When this water penetrates the wastewater community, it may well overload the system, which is a selected threat in periods of heavy rain or storm occasions.
Within the worst circumstances, it may well result in the discharge of untreated wastewater into the setting and air pollution of rivers and seas. It additionally will increase the chance of cross-contamination of consuming water, the place polluted water from the setting enters via faults in clear water pipes.
Will increase within the frequency and depth of rainfall on account of a altering local weather is exacerbating the issue, making wastewater networks ever extra susceptible to failure and placing the setting at better threat. If left untreated, pipeline integrity will solely deteriorate over time, growing the quantity of ingress water to be handled.
For Håbo municipality, the general aim of the collaboration with InfoTiles is to achieve a greater understanding of the causes of influx and infiltration into sewerage networks and to know the choices for remediation and affect discount. The municipality hopes it should assist policymakers acquire a deeper understanding of decision-making round I&I and present how collaboration and digital options can be utilized as a catalyst for constructive change.
Correct pin-pointing
Influx and infiltration compounds wastewater working prices as extra water have to be pumped, handled and discharged.
The InfoTiles platform makes use of SCADA management system knowledge along with knowledge from the Swedish Meteorological Institute to analyse historic rainfall and the dry and moist climate behaviour of wastewater networks. For instance, how and when water hits the community and the way it impacts pump heights.
Sensor gadgets positioned at important factors within the community can accumulate knowledge equivalent to precipitation, problematic thresholds of rain quantity, or seasonally diverse sensitivities. That feeds right into a central dashboard and these detailed measurements can then be analysed by water managers.
Through the use of data from pump stations in real-time, the mannequin calculates the full and extreme quantity transported, permitting managers to see not solely weather-related developments but additionally the ensuing prices each when it comes to therapy and energy expenditure.
As soon as drawback areas have been recognized, the search space could be narrowed down utilizing compact internet-of-things (IoT) gadgets inside the identical platform. Some pump stations have a number of inputs or lengthy upstream pipeline networks. By selectively measuring completely different branches, it’s doable to establish precisely the place the water inflows and infiltrates or exclude areas that aren’t problematic.
Constructive proof
Håbo operates 38 pumping stations, in a community the place a number of smaller pumping stations feed bigger stations earlier than the wastewater is in the end transported to therapy.
InfoTiles and Håbo municipality decided that the pumps closest to the therapy stations had been receiving the most important web quantity of water, which means that the most important inflow was occurring within the elements of the community immediately regarding the most important pumps.
With this data, managers from Håbo went looking for injury within the recognized areas and had been in a position to rapidly verify the findings of the evaluation. Important breaches of the pipe had been discovered upon visible inspection. In a single location, drained floor water from close by farmlands was penetrating wastewater pipes at excessive stress, inflicting giant and steady volumes of I&I.
Sara Frid, water and wastewater strategist, Håbo Municipality, stated, “The brand new perception into ingress water, equivalent to volumes, seemingly sources, and the ensuing prices actually sparked an curiosity amongst our operators to go on the hunt for it.
“Within the first couple of weeks, we had found damages to our wastewater pipelines that we could repair to reduce volumes and save treatment costs.”
Now, water managers cannot solely use knowledge to establish the areas with the very best want of upkeep and repairs but additionally see the outcomes of their work in diminished volumes of influx and infiltration.
Regularly lowering the full volumes of I&I stays a excessive focus for Håbo municipality.
With the InfoTiles resolution, they’ve been in a position to show that investments in wastewater upkeep should not solely a problem of environmental threat and price, however in reality, the discount in volumes will in the end result in diminished therapy prices in the long run.
