Air Selangor is a large water distribution company owned by the Malaysian state of Selangor. The public utility serves a population of 8.4 million residents and manages over 6,200 kilometers of trunk mains, ranging from 300mm up to 2,200mm, with much of the pipelines located in remote areas of the state.
THE CHALLENGE
In the past, Air Selangor used a variety of techniques to identify leaks and bursts. However, there was still a need for a quicker response to minimise the runtime of leaks/bursts and the disruption caused. Historically, the utility faced a long runtime of leaks before discovery, often due to the remote geographical location of its trunk main network. Furthermore, pressure transients were known to be an issue within the network, but without information on their sources or causes.
Air Selangor also noticed that leaks often recurred on the same pipelines, causing concern and harming the utility’s reputation. Air Selangor actively sought innovative ideas for continuous monitoring to identify leaks and pressure surges earlier, reduce NRW and improve customer relations.
THE SOLUTION
Air Selangor partnered with Xylem to develop a long-term, statewide monitoring program to improve asset reliability and resiliency. This decision intelligence approach included Xylem Vue’s Leak Detection application, a real-time monitoring solution well suited to help Air Selangor prevent premature asset failure across the system.
Leak Detection combines and analyses analytics from two major leak detection methodologies—pressure transients and hydrophones—to help utilities localise pipe bursts within minutes and detect slowly growing leaks. This automated process, which is supervised by analysts in a 24/7 monitoring environment, simplifies the analysis, visualisation and interpretation of massive quantities of data and helps repair crews prioritise their response.
Program Highlights
- State–wide monitoring program—a first of its kind in Malaysia
- Continuous remote monitoring solution used to detect bursts and harmful pressure transients, reducing the runtime of leaks to days instead of months and years
- High resolution pressure and acoustic sensors enable greater understanding about the nature and distribution of bursts on the trunk mains
RESULTS
The monitoring program started in 2018 with 500 sensors successfully deployed in the first year and 65 major leaks and bursts identified and repaired through close collaboration with Air Selangor. The program continues today, with ongoing installation of new sensors brought into operation daily (1,600 sensors deployed and counting).
The Air Selangor–Xylem analytic team is identifying 2 leaks per week, with 295 found to date and continuously monitoring for further leaks on its trunk mains, helping Air Selangor achieve its NRW targets. This compares to traditional methods where the same pipelines may not be revisited for months or years.
Data from high resolution pressure and acoustic sensors have enabled important insights into the operation of the network and the nature and distribution of leaks on the trunk mains. In addition, the transient pressure monitoring has identified operational issues related to pump changeovers, allowing Air Selangor to implement interventions to prevent premature failure of assets across their system.
– Client Testimonial, Air SelangorAs a public utility, we wanted to reduce bursts and improve our customer service, and the continuous monitoring solution is certainly helping us achieve our goal.
