芬德雷镇公用事业公司采用主动木质部技术节省资金和人力

ACOUSTIC MONITORING APPLICATION IDENTIFIES WATER LEAKS EFFICIENTLY Every drop of water counts especially when you purchase yourwater from an independent source.Findlay Township MunicipalAuthority (FTMA)obtains their water from the Ohio River throughpaid interconnects with two neighboring authorities in WesternPennsylvania. Nestled among Findlay Township’s rolling hills and wooded serviceterritory are 75 miles of waterline. Remote leak detection became apriority for FTMA and they chose smart water technology fromSensus,a Xylem brandto help tackle unaccounted water loss. “We need to know of any abnormalities in our water system every day,”said Jason Orsini, Findlay Township Municipal Authority’s GeneralManager. “Sensus has a user-friendly system that allows us to train staffto know exactly where to go to make the fix.” CHALLENGE Find the source of leaks and reduce waterloss across hilly terrain of Allegheny County,Pennsylvania New digital solution SOLUTION In 2019, the authority added remotely-managed acoustic monitoringto their smart water network. The Sensus AnalyticsAcoustic MonitoringapplicationcombinesPermalog®+technology with theFlexNet®communication networkand SmartPoints®to monitor distributionlines and localize leaks. Gone were the time-intensive days of liftingand shifting loggers from site to site, then returning to the office forreadings and back to the field for redeployment on a daily basis. Nowthe magnetically attached loggers remain in a permanent spot andtechnicians check on the entire distribution system from their worklaptops each morning. Add acoustic monitoring solution to FlexNetcommunication network for remote leakdetection and timely monitoring MOVING FORWARD Look at pressure zones and deploy allyresidential meters for enhanced pressure andtemperature sensing “We needed acoustic monitoring across our entire system, not onlyproblem areas.” said Orsini. “This technology allows us to know ofany abnormalities within our 75 miles of waterline every day, whereasbefore with a lift and shift system we may not know of a leak foranywhere up to 35 days.” “We needed acoustic monitoring across our entire system, notonly problem areas. This technology allows us to know of anyabnormalities within our 75 miles of waterline every day, whereasbefore with a lift and shift system we may not know of a leak foranywhere up to 35 days.” Jason Orsini, General ManagerFindlay Township Municipal Authority The acoustic sensors use soundwaves to listen to the distribution system overnight when ambient, background noise is at itslowest. Pipeline flow conditions are reported to the utility via Flexnet. The application automatically aggregates and analyzesdata and alerts the authority when leaks occur. Moving to acoustic monitoring allows technicians to remotely identify and findleaks before they become major breaks. “The system gives us a real quick snapshot of any issues within the system, we’ll know right away if there’s a leak,” said Orsini.“This platform is user-friendly and then our technicians must go out and investigate.” Increase efficiency and reduce costs It takes people to interpret the data. Orsini praises his team for learning the technology and proactively finding leaks. Mostrepairs can now be done during standard business hours. Employee overtime has significantly decreased from 200 monthlyhours to less than 70 hours. Findlay Township’s smart system also helps with unaccounted water loss which has decreased from approximately 40 percentto five percent since the implementation of smart meters along with acoustic monitoring in the past decade. That’s a realizedcost savings of $100,000 per year - crucial for a water provider that relies on outside sources for its water. Cost reductions are not the only benefit that the authority has experienced since adding the Acoustic Monitoring application.The municipality’s customers are both surprised and delighted at the quick response from the utility when issues arise,especially when leaks are addressed on the same day they are detected. “One of our technicians pinpointed a leak to a private home,” said Orsini. “He knocked on the door and told the homeownerabout the leak. The homeowner was shocked and asked, ‘how do you know that?’ Our technicians are using all available toolsto provide our customers with improved service. The system works!” Orsini adds the system has paid off in finding the leaks that never surface like in mine shafts or storm drains. He credits thedigital solution for alerting the authority to their biggest underground leaks that are difficult to locate. Beyond proactive leak detection The Acoustic Monitoring application’s capabilities have proveneffective in FTMA’s mission to master proactive leak detection, reducecosts and improve customer service. Leaving the lift and shift methods behind, the utility has created anefficient operation that puts customer service at the forefront of whatthey do. “I would very much reco