Water infrastructure the world over is in need of an upgrade. Even in the U.S., where the quality of drinking water is high, some 2 trillion gallons of drinking water are lost to leaking pipes and water main breaks. And municipalities are still learning to address automation fundamentals.
In Vietnam, safe water is much scarcer. Last year, Ho Chi Minh City—the country’s most populated city—lost almost 30 percent of its potable water because of leaking and damaged pipes. In the midst of a massive urban project aimed at restoring the city’s water distribution network, Saigon Water Corp. (SAWACO) is deploying digital control and monitoring technologies from ABB along with integrated event management software from TaKaDu, a company focused on software for the water industry.
ABB’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, ABB Ability Symphony Plus, will monitor and control the entire water distribution system and integrate TaKaDu’s event management software, which detects, analyzes and manages network events and incidents such as leaks, bursts, faulty assets, telemetry and data issues, and operational failures.
“We’re excited to partner with ABB on this project in one of Asia’s most dynamic countries,” said Amir Peleg, TaKaDu’s founder and CEO. “By converting raw data into knowledge, we can help SAWACO reduce hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of non-revenue water lost per day while significantly improving its operational efficiency.”
The complementary systems and software from ABB and TaKaDu will help SAWACO monitor its network conditions digitally through sensors and meters, enabling the utility to reduce its non-revenue water. SAWACO will then be able to increase the amount of water delivered to the city’s industries and 8 million residents. Estimates put SAWACO water savings at 50 million cubic meters per year—equivalent to 20,000 Olympic-size swimming pools—and cost savings of more than $10 million a year.
“Water projects like Ho Chi Minh City’s show the full potential of advanced automation for all municipalities dealing with rapid expansion or aging infrastructure,” said Kevin Kosisko, managing director of ABB’s Power Generation & Water business. “Aggregating and analyzing data from the field will offer real-time insights into network status and will increase revenues.”
