NEPHNET IS “REVOLUTIONISING THE WATER INDUSTRY”

The groundbreaking NephNet is continuing to go from strength to strength and is now revolutionising the UK water industry.

Following four years of research and development, this pioneering monitor is now the ONLY solution available to water companies that can help achieve the tough targets that have been implemented by OFWAT and effectively monitor turbidity. With 95% of water companies now using the NephNet, we look at why this monitor has taken the industry by storm.

THE CHALLENGE

The UK water industry has been targeted over the quality of drinking water supplied to the public with 27 measures, including turbidity, put into place. OFWAT has applied high financial penalties to water companies who fail to keep complaints of discolouration to a set limit – a fine of up to £1,000 per complaint if water companies exceed their target. Based on the number of complaints water companies received last year, this could see expected fines reaching between £2-3 million if they don’t meet their targets. 

Research & Development

To help create a solution for this, Analytical Technology has spent the past four years working in close partnership with the UK Water Industry, in conjunction with the PODDS Group at Sheffield University, to develop a monitor that would offer a sustainable solution to safeguarding water quality for consumers. 

The main challenges were to produce a low powered, continuous sensor that was as accurate as a fixed system.  It needed to be a safe source of power that was small enough to fit down a hydrant chamber, whilst also providing an informative GSM that could offer alarms via text and/or email for events.

THE SOLUTION

ATi listened to what the water companies really needed out of a new system, and with the help of battery and telemetry experts, the NephNet was born. 

The portable, battery powered monitor was created to assist the UK water industry with measuring continuous low level turbidity; to help to control the movement of water; provide a better understanding of the networks; improve the quality of data; and prove the effectiveness of flushing DMA in the network. The innovation behind this technology is to maintain the accuracy of the turbidity sensor, whilst reducing the demand for power. 

The NephNet offers a string of benefits to help water companies control network discolouration, including continuous remote monitoring of turbidity; better accuracy at lower levels; fast connection to water mains via hydrants; and wireless communications and alarms.

Network monitoring and flushing with NephNet

The benefits of continuous, accurate data has 'opened the eyes' of many water companies, who have previously struggled to understand the overall condition of their networks. In many cases, network engineers simply do not know the quality of their network.  As only spot checks were available, there was a lack of information on why water quality differs so much within an area. Now that changes in water quality can be identified and tracked via the NephNet, the supply can be diverted where possible, and crucially, warnings can be sent out to customers to prevent complaints filtering through.  

Accurate, First Class Results With Substantial Savings

Extensive field testing and evaluation has demonstrated how the use of the NephNet allows huge savings.  One of the major water companies based in the south of England had identified a discolouration risk trunk main that they believed needed major refurbishment and possible relining.  However the NephNet identified that this wasn’t actually needed and instead the main was gradually cleaned by changing the flow, using turbidity as the control. This saved the water company a deferred cost of over £2 million and has resulted in a long term sustainable maintenance strategy. 

“Revolutionising” The Water Industry

Dr Stewart Husband, Head of the PODDS Group at Sheffield University, said: “Advances in robust, high-precision and reliable network monitors is revolutionising water quality management in water distribution systems.  

“Detecting variations in turbidity from remote locations in response to immediate changes in flow, using a portable instrument like the NephNet, has shown discolouration risk can be controlled simply and at low cost. Understanding network behaviour using these monitors, therefore allows operators to condition mains for resilience purposes, or long term maintenance to reduce customer complaints and safeguard against water quality failures.”

For more information please contact Analytical Technology on 0800 804 6062, e-mail or visit the website.