By Tom Swain,Head of Country – UK, Samotics
In recent years, the UK water industry has faced unprecedented scrutiny as it grapples with the collective impact of seemingly intractable challenges, including climate change, ageing infrastructure, and population growth. But with AMP8 on the horizon, now is the time to break the deadlock and finally deliver on the long-overdue need for significant change.
As already identified by Ofwat in its PR24 draft determinations, central to this change will be investment in new and innovative technology. Business plans for 2025-2030 stand to nearly double the spend of the previous AMP7 investment cycle. Increased spending power presents an unmissable opportunity to reimagine how assets are managed, underpinned by innovative solutions that drive efficiency, resilience, and sustainability across the network.
A key strand within this technological shift is condition monitoring, which combines preventive and condition-based maintenance (CBM) to optimise operations. By offering real-time insights into asset health, condition monitoring enables water companies to detect developing issues early and prioritise maintenance resources – helping deliver better services to customers while protecting the environment.
As water companies increasingly turn to condition monitoring, here’s how it can help achieve their AMP8 objectives:
Reducing reactive maintenance
Reactive maintenance is costly, risky, and can lead to environmental damage and reputational harm. For example, emergency repairs can be eight-to-ten times more expensive due to the need for temporary equipment, new spare parts, and overtime.
By implementing condition-based maintenance, water utilities can plan repairs in advance, avoid unplanned downtime, and protect their environment and service reliability. For example, in one particular case, our technology detected a developing belt issue in an inlet screw pump that allowed a UK water company to schedule maintenance before failure. This early notification helped avoid nearly £500,000 in potential emergency mitigation costs.
Dealing with sewage pumping station overflows
Sewage pumping station (SPS) overflows, often caused by pump blockages from materials like wet wipes and non-biodegradables, present a significant challenge. In 2023, the UK’s Environment Agency recorded over 3.6 million hours of sewage spills, a dramatic increase from 1.75 million hours in 2022. Nearly one-in-five of these incidents occurred at pumping stations, as the analysis showed.
That’s why improving detection and prevention at these stations is key to reducing pollution events and should be part of pollution prevention plans. Real-time alerts provided by condition monitoring technology, such as an AI-based electrical signature analysis (ESA), enable water companies to proactively address potential issues. In one case, our ESA technology alerted a UK water company to failures of two pumps at a critical pumping station that were missed by existing telemetry-based blockage monitoring systems. This timely intervention prevented a pollution incident, safeguarding the environment and avoiding costly regulatory fines. As an additional benefit, accurate real-time insights into pump condition allows water utilities to prioritise the necessary response, leading to a more efficient use of scarce maintenance resources.
Minimising inspection visits
Traditional time-based inspections, especially for remote assets like sewage pumping stations, are often ineffective and costly. A fault can develop soon after an inspection, making regular visits insufficient to prevent issues. This inefficiency is further compounded by skilled labor shortages, driving operational costs even higher.
For instance, a customer previously conducted around 70,000 time-based inspection trips annually to check and unblock sewage pumps. This approach not only inflated operational costs but also increased the risk of expensive emergency repairs.
By leveraging continuous monitoring technology like ESA, maintenance teams can prioritise site visits based on real-time asset health, rather than a fixed schedule. This shift has already resulted in a 15% reduction in ‘non-value adding’ site visits for one of our’ UK water customers, saving significant operational costs and resources.
Saving energy
High energy costs and CO2 emissions are ongoing challenges for the water sector, which consumes approximately 3% of the UK’s total electricity. ESA based monitoring technology can significantly reduce energy consumption by providing insights into pump performance.
For example, one customer saw a 10% reduction in energy use across its critical pumping assets by identifying inefficient operations. This not only lowers energy bills but also supports net-zero targets, contributing to sustainability and helping customers during the cost-of-living crisis.
Enhancing water network resilience and reliability
Large parts of the UK’s water network date back to the 19th century, adding to the challenges faced by the industry. It’s estimated that it would take close to 2,000 years to renew the UK’s water distribution system at current renewal rates. Given this reality, maintaining the existing network while awaiting new infrastructure from AMP8 and beyond is crucial. This becomes even more critical when considering the tight Botex capital maintenance budgets as shown in the recent draft determinations, and a drive by Ofwat for efficiency and innovation.
Condition monitoring technology plays a vital role here. By continuously monitoring both new and existing assets, water utilities can ensure efficient maintenance, cost savings, and enhanced system reliability. This proactive approach not only addresses current challenges but also prepares the network for future demands.
