Smart water treatment services with “game-changing” software

It is difficult to think of a critical industry that flies beneath our collective radar quite like the water and wastewater (WWW) sector. Water is an increasingly precious natural resource. Yet, many people turn on a tap and just expect clean water. They have little understanding of the water and wastewater infrastructure and automation systems that make this possible.

Providing essential WWW services brings significant challenges. Rapid population growth and urbanization mean that clean water demand is increasing, as are more stringent regulations and environmental concerns about water treatment systems. Disruptions and demand shifts will continue to arise as service providers must run both resilient and more sustainable water treatment operations.

Water and wastewater operators must ensure environmental compliance with public health and water quality standards while delivering efficient and sustainable operations. The water industry already accounts for 7 per cent of industrial energy consumption, and only 0.5 to 1 per cent of the earth’s freshwater is freely accessible, so conserving this scarce and vital resource is critical.

Digitally transforming water supply and treatment plants can elevate the sector’s operational effectiveness for increased sustainability. Digital technology connects and improves the full lifecycle management of water treatment systems, which results in superior operational efficiency, increased sustainability, and enhanced water process performance.

Simplify and accelerate water treatment efficiency and sustainability

Merging information technology (IT) with operating technology (OT) helps automate complex processes, upgrade and modernize infrastructure, and maximize the value of existing systems. Until now, enterprise-wide remote IoT data integration has often been slow and complicated. Fortunately, new digital tools help integrate a complete range of data with analytics. Achieving a broader and more holistic view of all automation systems enhances the network’s performance. Water professionals use the actionable insights advanced analytic tools provide to speed up and simplify their modernization plans. These insights include:

Real-time state of systems and processes
Issue diagnosis and prediction to avoid slowdowns and malfunctions
Workflows and resource optimization
Better energy efficiency and operational performance based on functional characteristics

Software-centric universal automation to upgrade water treatment operations

The latest release of EcoStruxure Automation Expert, Version 21.2, from Schneider Electric, helps water and wastewater plants overcome efficiency roadblocks. Combining complete lifecycle management, seamless IT and OT integration, and improved automation system diagnostics can future-proof an operation. When combined with AVEVA’s software portfolio, these enhanced capabilities can be further extended as needs dictate.

EcoStruxure Automation Expert removes the dependency between the software application and the hardware platform it runs on. Decoupling software from hardware helps users modify or upgrade systems quickly and easily. EcoStruxure Automation Expert is a universal automation solution that is portable to almost any hardware and interoperable with almost any industrial automation solution.

With average water treatment plants in use for 25 to 35 years, universal automation solutions unleash water companies from the constraints of closed, proprietary, legacy hardware. Based on the IEC 61499 standard for interoperability, EcoStruxure Automation Expert easily adapts to solve specific customer problems using existing automation solutions, new ones, or a combination. Finally, WWW operators can cost-effectively modernize rigid and outdated operations without regard to brand.

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