Case Study

Water Management

Monitoring water usage remotely at multiply UL Hospital Group locations

Water Management Project

In 1955 the Limerick Regional Hospital opened, it became the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick in 2006 and following the establishment of the Graduate Medical School at the University of Limerick, it became the University Hospital Limerick in 2013.  Six hospitals in the greater Mid-West Region became part of a single operating and governance structure known as the UL Hospitals Group.

The UL Hospital Group wanted an efficient way to monitor, manage and maintain the water consumption in a way which would be easy for the operators to learn and use on daily bases.  It was decided to trial three of the six sites to demonstrate our solutions to see how effective the system would be in achieving their goal.

Selected Sites:

  • University Hospital Limerick
  • University Maternity Hospital Limerick
  • Croom Hospital Limerick

A Cully Automation Engineer completed a detailed survey at each of the three sites to identify what type of water meters were in place, to ensure all meters were in working order. Out of the three sites, one required a meter to be replaced. The existing meter was a mechanical combination meter which was replaced with an ABB Aqua Master 4 meter.

Cully Automation Ltd carried out a turnkey solution by supplying OVARRO Xilog+ Data Loggers linked to a PrimeWeb system.  Cully Automation Ltd are Channel Partners with Ovarro over the past 20 years. Ovarro are a specialist manufacturer of leak detection and network management Solutions, who like Cully Automation Ltd are committed to developing products to manage water usage.

The Xilog+ Data Loggers were configured and linked to the PrimeWeb visual display by a Cully Automation Engineer. This solution was easy to operate and obtain trends on min/max daily flows that could be easily interpreted by an operator, which could be viewed remotely in real time on a laptop, tablet, or smart phone.

In addition to the system configuration, all civil, mechanical, electrical, and commissioning works were carried out by Cully Automation Ltd. Great strides were made to deliver flow monitoring solutions in partnership with Ovarro and ABB equipment

The solution installed on all three sites have since highlighted significant issues to operators via the PrimeWeb analysis tool. The process is now proactive to ensure conservation limits are achieved. The robust design is such that long-term ongoing measurement means that this investment will continue to offer value for many years.

Results:

  • Cost effective solution
  • Remote monitoring
  • Alarm notification
  • Asset management
  • Cloud based data collection

 

Cost of water associated with varies size leaks

                                                                                                       Cost @ €1.40 per m3

Size of hole                         m3/Day                                Per Day                                 Per Year 

1mm                                           1                                        €1.40                                         €182.50

3mm                                          9                                       €12.60                                       €1,642.50

5mm                                        25                                       €35.00                                      €4,562.50

7mm                                        44                                       €61.60                                      €8,303.00

Average leak                     74                                   €103.60                                € 13,505.00