Monitoring use with flow meters is the key to managing valuable resources.
Badger Meter
05/21/2018
Humans consume vast quantities of water and create an increasing amount of wastewater. This places greater emphasis on environmentally responsible water treatment and leveraging reclaimed resources.
Flow measurement is a basic and important control parameter for ensuring that clean, high-quality water is available. Applications ranging from water storage and transmission to wastewater treatment, leak detection and pump management cannot be done without flow meter technology.
Growing Demand for Water
Manufacturing and commercial sites rely heavily on water for many of their operations. Used for everything from producing steam to cooling various systems to maintaining overall machinery, water serves as a precious commodity that modern facilities cannot afford to be without. Companies must find ways to deal with new, higher standards for water quality and pollution controls. They are also under pressure to save energy and upgrade aging infrastructure. Facilities see a revenue opportunity in treating wastewater and selling byproducts. Water and wastewater treatment operations require plant-wide process control, integrated measurement, and monitoring capabilities and data reporting. They also need effective solutions to minimize energy usage and reduce risks to assets and the community. Neglected or poorly performing water treatment systems can significantly reduce plant efficiency and reliability, increase chemical and energy costs, and trigger regulatory noncompliance.
Image 1. Flow meters are excellent tools to measure, monitor and control a host of water-related processes. (Image courtesy of Badger Meter)
Meeting Today’s Demands
With greater awareness that water resources exist in limited quantities, there is an urgent need to save, reuse and recycle water along with developing methodologies to improve resource management and optimize water treatment efficiency. Problems involving water sanitation stem from the rise in urban migration and the growth of manufacturing. Industrial and commercial organizations have long dealt with the problem of residue disposal; their effluents are one of the largest sources of water pollution. Effective water treatment solutions include metering effluents for surcharge reporting and precisely measuring influent water. Industrial sites are striving for cost savings through optimized staffing and increased automation. They seek to reduce raw water consumption, lower energy and chemical costs, minimize toxic waste treatment and discharge, and improve regulatory compliance. Municipalities and industries are facing concerns about the impact of biological contaminants and chemicals in supply water and wastewater along with stringent manufacturing requirements in process water. Regulatory standards established by the U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA), National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG) and the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) dictate effective water usage, treatment and disposal techniques.Importance of Measuring Flow
Measuring water is vital when it comes to learning how to improve the efficiency of industrial plants. Precise measurements are also important in helping to conserve water that is clean enough to use in everyday life. Water and wastewater treatment facilities have the crucial job of producing a safe supply of high-quality water. Their operations are “pump intensive,” often employing large motors using lots of energy. Reliability is also paramount. Water and wastewater processes involve a wide range of flow measurement tasks and demand the highest meter accuracy and reliability along with long-term stability and a low cost of ownership. Flow meters must be able to measure liquid across all phases, including large volumes of fluid carrying suspended solids, sludge byproducts and other materials. They are also used to monitor methane discharge and reuse. Typical flow measurement applications include:- water flow monitoring
- dosing of water treatment chemicals
- water consumption monitoring
- leakage detection and reduction
- network load monitoring
- optimization of water usage
- monitoring influent water quantity
- monitoring discharge water quantity
- monitoring of water flow between reservoirs
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