Smart water?

The UK water industry is working on AMP5 asset management plan, which is an investment program expected to generate industry-wide capital spending of around £19 billion by 2015. The investment under AMP5, which runs between April 2010 and March 2015, will address many issues linked to EU Directives in several areas such as water quality leakages and flooding. The use of Internet-based communications and a single real-time software platform has evolved significantly due to its ability to deliver the timely and accurate data needed to control many distant facilities. The main KPI requirement for water companies under AMP5 is to upgrade existing infrastructure to meet OFWAT regulations, or face high financial penalties for failing to meet the standards. Most water companies are upgrading their centralized telemetry systems in AMP5. UK water utility companies are evaluating or investing in projects to combine the traditional two-part architecture of local HMI and remote telemetry into a single integrated distributed SCADA system.