Anglian Water Analyzes Force Main Performance with High-Resolution Data

Keeping track of this vast infrastructure is a major challenge. If a burst occurs on a force main, allowing sewage to escape the system, rapid detection and mitigation are essential to minimize environmental impact.

Detecting Bursts Early

To improve its ability to detect these bursts, Anglian Water embarked on a major program of monitoring force mains, installing PIPEMINDER-ONE External monitors at key locations throughout the utility’s service area.

High-resolution data collected from the sensors is sent to RADAR, the accompanying cloud analysis platform, delivering burst alerts whenever pressure in the main falls below 90% of the pre-set normal operating level. A drop in delivery pressure, or static head pressure, is indicative of a burst.

Armed with this information, Anglian Water could dispatch technicians rapidly to the affected area and physically walk the length of the pipeline to see if there are any signs of a break to detect the source of the burst.

This utility covers a higher percentage of the farmed land in the UK and prior to monitoring, bursts could go unnoticed for long periods of time if a pipeline runs underneath a field which is lightly visited. Monitoring minimizes the environmental impact—a key strategic priority.

Data-Driven Improvements

Building on initial success, the utility was keen to exploit the data generated by PIPEMINDER-ONE to improve operational performance and efficiency. In the beginning, this was a manual process, using burst alert patterns to analyze inefficiencies or monitor sites with known issues. As the project expanded, it became an automated feature within RADAR.

Data analysis revealed pressure transients that pointed to issues within the force main. In one example, the sensor data was traced to a drain back on a non-return valve, causing nearby pumps to run more often than usual practice.

Once this valve was maintained, removing the blockage it could properly close tightly and the pumps resumed their optimal run patterns, resulting in a meaningful reduction in energy consumption, while reducing wear and tear on the pumps, valves and other impacted components.

Monitoring Performance

The engineering team worked together with the utility to define the next stage of the analysis process, to develop a set of performance alerts, and tracking data to measure five key performance factors: 

1. Good pump/bad pump 
2. Low static head
3. High static head
4. Low delivery pressure
5. High delivery pressure 

Once completed, the subsequent analysis revealed a range of performance issues requiring attention, from worn pump impellers to fouled valves and compromised control valves. These findings complemented the existing telemetry system, providing a detailed view of asset performance.

Following this monitoring method, the utility identified more than 50 issues that affect performance and efficiency.

Modeling Hydraulic Transients

Using advanced hydraulic modeling software, the utility can obtain a deeper analysis of asset performance using the data generated by the PIPEMINDER-ONE External monitors.

Insights produced by modeling provide valuable guidance on a range of operational issues—such as how to control pumps to reduce surge and lessen negative pressures to maintain performance at optimal levels to minimize asset wear and tear.

The modeling results have helped the Anglian Water team identify the most critical projects for attention and perform less costly mitigation where appropriate, ensuring maximum impact for capital expense.

In addition to improving operational efficiency, the monitoring program has been instrumental in identifying opportunities for financial savings.

Rectifying existing asset issues has already generated more than $40,400/£30,000 per year in energy savings, based on completing two-thirds of planned mitigations. Add to this the reduced costs associated with investigating bursts, and the utility anticipates a payback on the technology investment within just one year.

This data-driven approach to performance monitoring provides the Anglian Water team with visibility into their vast system that informs decisions with the power to improve the service to customers.

“This new level of monitoring has allowed Anglian Water to deploy strategies aimed at extending the life of the force main (such as soft starts on pumps and improved air valve maintenance) which early results suggested will allow deferral of capital investment by extending asset life,” Lorenzo Pompa, asset optimization engineer with Anglian Water said. “This enhanced understanding of performance also provides an essential targeting tool for the optimization team.”