Oil on Water Monitoring

Northern Ireland Water operate a number of potable water plants around Lough Erne and the River Derg, these waterways are extremely popular with tourists and are used for pleasure crafts of various sizes, from jetskis to fully fitted 6 berth cruisers. These watercraft create an ongoing risk of floating oil from poorly maintained engines, as the watercraft have access to within 10 metres of the main intake points an automatic alarm system is required.

The previously installed instruments suffered from repeated failures of their fuse type mechanism, Partech (UK) 7300w² Monitor with OilTechw² FLT Sensor has a non-contact optical system which does not require routine maintain and automatically clears the alarm once the oil pollution has moved away. The sensor's float arrangement allows the sensor to move with changes in water level and the signal processing in both the sensor and the monitor allow small disturbances to be ignored whilst producing a reliable alarm of a fault condition.

The Killyhelvin plant operates a magnetite process which is vulnerable to oil contamination, so the alarm system that has been installed by ATG Group is particularly important to prevent damage to the process. Further installations are planned for a range of plants across Northern Ireland based on the success of these instruments.