Networked water treatment that ‘talks’ will optimise costs and efficiency
Water treatment technology innovator Aqua21 has announced a concept that will revolutionise point of use water treatment technologies. The technical term is ‘water treatment tailored to the need of each point on a water supply network’. An equally appropriate, and briefer, description is the Internet of water.
The concept supports the expansion of the Aqua 21 use of ozonation — a powerful, safe and reliable form of point of use water disinfection — across multiple points in a water supply network. A typical example would be a small community — housing, industries, farms and a hospital, for example — using Aqua 21 to treat water from a river, rain runoff or another untreated source. With multiple users there will be multiple treatment points. This is where the Internet of Water concept comes in.
Aqua 21 employs smart networks to ensure real-time water analysis and targeted conditioning. These are radio networks, with sensors at the source and at the various user points — sensors that ‘talk’ to each other. The system ‘sees’ what each user needs, the contamination levels that need to be addressed, and the distance, time and cost involved. It then automatically responds. Water is then treated to the standard needed at each user point.
The need for this technology is easy to summarise: if only one point on a water network needs treatment why treat the whole network? Similarly why treat water for cleaning pigsties to the same level as water for cleaning hospital theatres? Adding intelligence to the water treatment network guarantees appropriate water cleaning when and where it is needed, replacing the monolithic, centralised Victorian approach that can only offer one, all-embracing form of treatment at all points at the same time.
The potential cost savings are enormous, the applications varied and the need evident. That’s why Aqua21 is today being asked to demonstrate the Internet of Water concept to potential customers and user groups both within and beyond the UK.
Trevor Costello, co-founder, Aqua 21, says: “Existing, inflexible water cleaning systems cannot cope with the growing demand for water and the pressure to keep it clean as cost-effectively as possible. Our ozonation and sensoring technology, combined with an Internet of Water concept that tailors treatment to need in real time, promises to revolutionise both the cost and the effectiveness of water treatment for end users.”