An automatic flow measurement and logging system from ABB Limited is helping United Utilities to regulate its water abstraction from boreholes and surface waters at a number of its sites. The 37 electromagnetic flowmeters and 30 ScreenMaster 1000 videographic recorders from ABB give an accurate record of water abstracted from their various sources.
United Utilities, the leading provider of water, wastewater and electricity services to the North West of England, abstracts water as part of its daily supply to its three million customers.
To abstract water from any source it is necessary to have a licence from the Environment Agency, which includes details of how much water can be drawn during a given period. The EA also set stringent standards for the meters used to measure the quantity of water abstracted.
The 37 sites covered by this project previously relied on either older types of technology (such as Helix or DP flowmeters) or indirect measurement of flow at locations further from the sources.
These meters have now been replaced by a selection of ABB electromagnetic flowmeters including the MagMaster water waste, MagMaster Loflow, AquaMaster and PartiMag II. United Utilities is investing more than £3 billion in water quality and environmental improvements between 2000 and 2005.
Installed as part of United Utilities’ continuing programme of improvements to water abstraction metering, the new flowmeters are already delivering greater accuracy and reliability of flow measurement.
All information collected by the meters is now automatically logged by ABB’s Screenmaster 1000 videographic units. This enables data to be stored at site and downloaded on to operators’ PCs via a smart card. The ScreenMaster allocates all data collected with a digital signature. Effectively a unique ‘finger-print’ allocated to the data, this signature provides a guarantee that the data downloaded has not been tampered with.
"Our system provides United Utilities with the ideal means of measuring and logging its abstraction," says Gary Egerton, flow sales engineer for ABB Limited. "Not only does it give greater resolution, it also ensures that all information collected is absolutely accurate."