The Benefits of Aquadvanced® Water Supply Production Planning for Drinking Water Operators

  • Cost Efficiency: Optimises water production by aligning with demand and prioritising energy-efficient water sources, helping operators reduce operational costs and meet sustainability goals.
  • Flexibility and Adaptability: Enables operators to incorporate specific constraints, such as regulatory requirements or local conditions, and simulate scenarios to plan effectively for seasonal variations and regional needs.
  • Sustainable Demand Management: Supports long-term planning by considering annual abstraction limits and seasonal fluctuations, ensuring compliance with UK water regulations and promoting sustainable water use.
  • Enhanced Decision-Making: Offers detailed simulations, accurate forecasts, and side-by-side scenario comparisons, empowering operators to make data-driven decisions for efficient and reliable water resource management.

Efficiency, Scalability, Accuracy and Resilience

Aquadvanced® Production Planning offers additional benefits.
Operational Efficiency

  • Faster decision-making: Data-driven systems can analyse data and suggest optimal actions quicker than manual processes
  • Predictive maintenance: reducing downtime and maintenance costs
  • Automation of repetitive tasks: Reduces the dependency on manual input for routine monitoring and response

 

Scalability and Complexity

  • Growing network size: As water networks expand (urban growth, aging infrastructure), relying on human memory and manual logs becomes untenable
  • Complex systems: Multiple pressure zones, valves, pumps, reservoirs and variable demand patterns require analytics


Improved Accuracy and Reliability

  • Reduced human error: Manual processes are prone to inconsistency and error, especially when the operators are under stress.
  • Objective decision-making: Data reduces reliance on subjective or experiential knowledge, which can vary between operators

Resilience and Risk Management

  • Crisis response: Data-driven systems can help simulate and prepare for droughts, floods or contamination events
  • Knowledge retention: Institutional knowledge can be lost when staff retire or leave; data systems help capture and retain operational knowledge

A Mass Balance Strategy

A mass balance strategy involves accounting for all water entering, used within, and leaving a water system—ensuring that inputs equal outputs plus or minus any losses (for example from consumption and evaporation). It's essential for quantifying water resources, understanding usage patterns, and planning supply.

Aquadvanced® Production Planning facilitates a systems thinking approach, using an understanding of the interconnectedness of elements within the water system to create a more efficient way to optimise supply across the network.

Monitoring Production Volumes

Monitoring production volumes is critical for reliable service delivery, regulatory adherence, cost efficiency, and sustainable water management. More specifically, they need to monitor production volumes from water treatment plants for these important reasons:

 

  • Demand Management. Through monitoring utilities can match supply with demand, helping to ensure their water production meets consumer demand without overproducing or underproducing.
  • Regulatory Compliance. Water companies are often required to report production volumes to government agencies or environmental regulators to ensure they are operating within legal limits. In addition, monitoring volumes helps ensure adherence to water abstraction and discharge permits.
  • Cost Control. It is important to keep track of operational costs related to production. Minimising the unnecessary treatment of water conserves energy, chemicals and labour.
  • Operational Efficiency. Monitoring production helps optimise the performance of pumps, filters, and other equipment as well as identifying inefficiencies or losses in the system, such as those lost through leakage or equipment malfunction.
  • Leak Detection and Loss Prevention. A mismatch between production volumes and water actually delivered to end-customers can indicate leaks or unauthorised use. It is important to support the efforts to reduce non-revenue water (water that is produced but not billed).
  • Planning and Forecasting. Historical data on production volumes inform infrastructure planning, investment in new facilities, or expansion of capacity. Water companies need accurate information when modelling future needs and climate-related impacts on water availability. Production Planning helps ensure that new assets are commissioned in the locations where they will be most cost effective.
  • Quality Assurance. Production volume data can be correlated with water quality data to ensure that treated water consistently meets safety standards and can help identify when changes in volume might affect treatment effectiveness.

Resource Management with Aquadvanced® Water Supply Production Planning

The Aquadvanced® Water Supply module for Production Planning is an advanced tool designed to streamline water resource management. By analysing demand forecasts, reservoir levels, and operational constraints, it creates efficient production and transport strategies. The system adapts to scenarios like drought, minimises waste, and prevents shortages, ensuring sustainable water supply. 

Integrated with real-time systems, such as the Aquadvanced® Energy module, it dynamically adjusts to changing conditions, offering flexible and responsive management. Ideal for operators seeking to optimise water production, reduce costs, and enhance resource sustainability.

The AQUADVANCED® suite is made for operators

The AQUADVANCED® suite draws upon the vast collective experience of SUEZ as a global company for water and wastewater management. The suite is designed with operators in mind. For over 15 years, the SUEZ digital solutions teams have worked closely with professionals at the forefront of water company control rooms. This collaboration ensures that our solutions not only meet their specific needs but also provide them with practical tools to enhance the efficiency of their roles and help run their tasks smoothly. 


AQUADVANCED® is built on a common database platform that is optimised for the real-time collection, verification, storage, display and analysis of data coming from multiple sources. Furthermore, a common data visualisation platform offers advanced dashboarding, reporting and data analytics capabilities across all suite modules. Offered in the UK, the AQUADVANCED® suite includes:

 

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