Wastewater managers at Welsh Water (Dŵr Cymru)have installed a network of remote cameras from Meteor Communications to constantly check the performance of ultra-violet (UV) wastewater treatment processes. The remote cameras provide live assurance that UV disinfection is operating effectively 24/7. “This is such an important issue, that if the camera network helps to prevent just one discharge compliance failure, it will more than justify the cost,” comments Meteor’s MD Matt Dibbs.
One of the most important performance criteria for water companies is the number of discharge compliance failures per year. For this reason, at sites where UV wastewater treatment is employed, it is absolutely essential that disinfection is continuous and uninterrupted. However, UV treatment can stop, or appear to stop, for a number of reasons, such as a power failure or a breakdown in communications. For UK water companies, such as Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, a site will fail its discharge consent if UV treatment stops for at least 10% of consecutive readings in any 24-hour period.
The challenge for water companies, is that their systems will raise an alert if there is a power outage or a communications failure, but that does not tell them if the UV lamps are still on, and even if they are on, it does not help them prove as such to the Regulator.
Discharge permits specify limits to protect public health and aquatic ecosystems. In addition, Water companies face severe financial penalties if their wastewater treatment facilities fail to meet discharge consent limits in site-specific environmental permits. For example, a wastewater discharge consent will specify a microbiological limit when the discharge impacts sensitive receiving waters used for human recreation such as bathing, shellfish harvesting, or drinking water abstraction.
UV disinfection has become popular for a number of reasons, not least because it is effective against most bacteria and viruses. In addition, UV treatment is relatively simple and safe to operate, and does not involve the use of chemicals.
Welsh Water has deployed UV disinfection at sites all over Wales and across the border into the Wirral. Conscious of the need to be able to detect and act on any disruption to UV treatment, the company decided that a network of remote cameras would be necessary.
Meteor Communications was therefore contracted to install 80 of its remote, low-power cameras across 35 sites. Operating via secure cellular comms, the cameras deliver images every 15 minutes via the MeteorCloud® web portal, which Welsh Water has access via a secure log-in. Meteor MRC cameras are able to operate on battery power, with solar charging, which means that the camera network can function independently of the local power supply.
Camera network benefits.
With 24/7 visibility of UV treatment systems, Welsh Water staff can be confident that disinfection processes are in continuous operation. Importantly, access to historical images also provides an opportunity to provide evidence to the regulator – evidence that, prior to the deployment of the cameras, was not available.
In addition to a reduction in non-compliance risk, the cameras also enable staff to triage on-site problems remotely so that unnecessary site visits are avoided, supervisors are able to prioritise asset deployment when a site visit is required. This lowers operational carbon footprint and reduces costs, especially when out-of-hours deployment is avoided. Welsh Water has estimated that half a day of operator time is saved per week by every 5 cameras.
And the future!
Water based leisure activities such as wild swimming are becoming increasingly popular. Media attention has never been higher, and the public has never before been so interested in water quality. Inevitably therefore, the requirement for UV wastewater treatment will increase, and the ability to monitor treatment remotely 24/7, will enhance the water industry’s ability to maintain disinfection performance, improve operational efficiency and deliver the evidence that regulators require to demonstrate environmental permit compliance.
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