Thanks to the latest sensor-driven flow monitor developed in Britain, homes and businesses could be saved from being flooded with sewage from burst pipes.
Detectronic, a high-tech company based in Lancashire (northern England), has made a robust sewer-flow meter for remotely logging and reporting levels and flows in sewers, drains and other pipes or channels.
Detectronic’s Multi-Sensor Flow Monitor provides survey data for sewer and drainage system master planning and better day-to-day management. The data recorded by the system cover both normal and storm flows and, as a result, any improvement that needs to be done can be prioritised, making maintenance and repairs more cost-effective.
The cutting-edge technology is to be put to work in Canadian cities in the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, where they are to use the advanced flow-monitoring system supplied by the hydrological instrument specialists — Detectronic.
“There is a pressing need to protect homes and businesses from flooding, to prevent effluent flows breaching the networks and to safeguard public health and the environment,” said Steve Woods, managing director of Detectronic in Lancashire.
“This can only be achieved with detailed knowledge of the performance of the drainage infrastructure. Metropolitan areas and utilities face the same issues in every part of the world,” he said.
Detectronic has worked closely with flow-survey contractors SFE Global in western Canada and with Cole Engineering in the east. They are both users of Multi-Sensor Flow Monitor equipment, operating 50 and 100 units respectively.
These will be used for inflow and infiltration monitoring and combined sewer overflow studies. The British company has gained European and worldwide approvals for its new system.
From the mid-1970s, the Detectronic design team has developed the very latest technology products and services, working with organisations across a variety of sectors – from the marine leisure industry to utilities suppliers and leading waste-water flow survey specialists.
The company pioneered the concept of in-sewer flow monitoring more than 30 years ago, and says that its Multi-Sensor Flow Monitor is the most advanced flow-survey monitor that it has produced.
The equipment is capable of delivering its data and alarms using the worldwide GPRS
cellular telephone data networks.
One Canadian customer in Winnipeg of Manitoba province commented: “The build quality and attention to detail gives the Multi-Sensor Flow Monitor an edge over its rivals. For example, the design of the unit is unique in that you can see and remove each item in seconds.
“We were also impressed by the sensor that can shed debris in low flows and the long-life lithium-ion rechargeable battery. Most of all, the customer service from Detectronic gave us confidence, particularly their willingness to re-programme software to meet our needs.”
The Multi-Sensor Flow Monitor is typically used for weeks at a time, monitoring flows at regular intervals, storing data and uploading that daily via the cellular telephone network to a data hub. Units are usually positioned in a manhole chamber.
Several instruments, strategically placed around the drainage network, survey the performance of the whole drainage system in normal and extreme weather conditions. The system has compatibility with worldwide GSM data networks.
In live mode, the controller may use the information from the system to direct maintenance teams to deal with blockages and overflows, while in logged mode, post-event data is used more strategically to pinpoint areas for further investigation or remedial action. A series of these instruments can be installed around a drainage network.
This enables assessment of the whole system, and the Multi-Sensor Flow Monitor delivers data compatible with all leading modelling software.