Oracle Tackles Leaky Water Systems

Water utilities looking for better ways to manage and communicate problems in their water networks, including aging systems prone to breakdowns, can thank their electric utility counterparts for paving the way

Oracle Utilities has introduced what it's calling its Smart Water Network Management solution, which is being field-tested by a few pioneering water utilities worldwide.

The software was designed to help utilities deal with a variety of service interruptions.

For example, "if a car runs over a fire hydrant, the repairs necessary may cause a disruption of service to the customers in that neighborhood," said Bradley Williams, VP of industry strategy at Oracle Utilities. "This solution supports customer interaction and notification to communicate estimated repair times."

Because every customer has different preferences for how they want to be communicated with regarding repair and maintenance of basic utilities, the Smart Water Network Management solution works within those preferences to allow water companies to contact customers through an outbound call center, e-mail or text messaging. 

Customers choose how they want to be communicated with and the system remembers that preference and executes appropriately.

Every day, according to WatermainBreakClock.com, North America experiences 850 water main breaks. That amounts to $3 billion in repair costs annually in a system that is aging and in need of updating. The leading cause of water main breaks is corrosion. Early water mains were made of cast iron. Some more recent water pipelines are main of ductile iron.  

With an estimated 170,000 public drinking water systems in the U.S., some as old as the Civil War, replacing aging infrastructure is becoming more urgent, particularly when water utility managers can't see the pipelines because they are buried underground. 

These realities make repair and replacement of water pipelines more necessary as they continue to age and population growth places more stress on water utilities trying to meet the needs of their customers. Smart water management systems like Oracle Utilities' new solution are arriving just in time.

"We have a lot of experience in the electric utility sector where outage management is a big deal," Williams said. "We saw a need for this kind of capability for water utilities. We consider it an entry-level smart water network solution."

Planned maintenance, of course, also means service disruptions. Oracle's software provides water utilities with a means of communicating those planned maintenance times more effectively and efficiently.

Oracle's system also is equipped with sensors that notifies a utility company of a possible leak in the system. Currently, they still have to send someone out to verify the leak, but the system does cut down on response times. Williams said the company is working on improving the system to allow for real-time leak detection through flow modeling.

"With electric utilities, when we talk about switching, you flip the switch closed and the current flows. If you flip the switch open, it stops flowing. It's just the opposite on a water valve. Through SCADA and sensor data, we can get more insight on what's happening downstream. It helps with leak detection and identifying where the leak is at," he said.

Another cutting-edge feature of the software is its ability to notify and communicate with local fire departments if an emergency arises. 

In a fire hydrant accident, for instance, the software will automatically notify the fire department of the service disruption. If other critical services are impacted, then the system will notify the appropriate emergency services to notify them of service disruption. 

According to Oracle Water Solutions' website, only 50 percent of water utilities are using smart grid technologies to manage their networks. As more companies adopt the technology, Williams said Oracle will improve the solution to increase its analytics capabilities. He wouldn't say how many companies, or which companies, are using the solution.

Source: Energy Biz

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Taxonomy

• Water Utility
• Utility Pipe Network
• Pipeline