Unitywater has announced it is extending its contract with integrated water network management solution provider TaKaDu, for a further three years. This comes in the wake of a successful one-year trial and a projected 2014 saving of almost a billion litres of water that would otherwise have been lost through leakage.
Over the past 12 months, Unitywater engineers have scrutinised TaKaDu’s innovative software as it monitored and reported real-time information and alerts about inefficiencies and water losses caused by leaks across Unitywater’s water supply network.
Glen Babington, Executive Manager Infrastructure Services Division at Unitywater, said the TaKaDu software “learned” how Unitywater’s water supply system operates and, having established standards for what is normal, is able to identify unusual trends or anomalies within the network.
“TaKaDu alerts us to potential problems which we then investigate and fix. The value comes especially from TaKaDu’s integration of different data types, which helps us to find hidden problems of multiple kinds, for instance, leaks into sandy soil or water theft.
“The software gives us a window through which we can see issues like leaks, bursts and pressure problems and respond to them more quickly. The length of water mains in Unitywater’s network would reach from Brisbane to Darwin if laid clockwise around the Australian coast, so small water losses can add up.
“Even though our leakage management plan means we are benchmarked as being in the ‘good to excellent’ range for management of water losses, we are always looking for greater efficiencies to keep customer bills as low as possible,” Mr Babington said.
TaKaDu VP Sales and Marketing Moshe Tamir said his company’s software takes Unitywater’s existing meter and sensor readings, as well as data from other sources, and applies advanced statistical algorithms to the data, then presents actionable insights within an easy to use web application for improved decision making.
“We are happy to extend the agreement with Unitywater, and keen to keep working together to improve Unitywater’s network efficiency and service to its customers. Now that Unitywater’s staff are familiar with using the TaKaDu solution on a daily basis, we are looking forward to helping them gain additional value from it, related to water quality, network performance and capital expenditure planning. Unitywater does everything to excel in what they do, and we are glad to be part of that”, Mr Tamir said.
The innovation doesn’t stop there. TaKaDu will continue developing its solution, adding more functionalities and features, with Unitywater as one of its closest partners influencing TaKaDu’s road map and further developments.
Unitywater services the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay regions of south-east Queensland. It maintains 285,927 water connections along 5,665 kilometres of water mains across a geographical area of 5,223 square kilometres.
