Project
Frederiksberg Utility's Aquis online-model supported the efficient control of a drinking water contamination incident
The utility’s hydraulic model of the entire distribution network enabled them to swiftly react to an incident of contamination in their drinking water network. In close collaboration with NIRAS the utility efficiently detected the source of contamination.
August 4, 2022
- SECTORS: Water, Data & Digitalisation
- COUNTRIES: Denmark
- CLIENT: Frederiksberg Utility
- DURATION: 2021
- Population: 140,000 citizens
The drinking water network at Frederiksberg municipality, Copenhagen, was struck by a contamination incident early 2021. Tests showed coliform bacteria in the water which forced the 104.000 citizens of the supply area to boil their drinking water prior to consumption. However, thanks to the utility’s digital model they were able to efficiently track down the area of contamination.
The drinking water network at Frederiksberg municipality, Copenhagen, was struck by a contamination incident early 2021. Tests showed coliform bacteria in the water which forced the 104.000 citizens of the supply area to boil their drinking water prior to consumption. However, thanks to the utility’s digital model they were able to efficiently track down the area of contamination.
The first alarm was received on Saturday 27th of February. As the utility was working on some pipe maintenance they were puzzled that some of the newly installed pipes could not be cleaned. It turned out that the rinsing water was contaminated. After having consulted the local authorities, the utility recommended all citizens to boil their drinking water, and then began tracking down the source.
The hydraulic online model provided a good foundation for the identification
The question was where along the 170 km main distribution line the contamination had occurred. Finding the source was complicated by the fact that the main line received water from four different sources which weren’t necessarily open simultaneously.
After the first emergency meeting on the day of the first alarm, the utility and NIRAS were able to narrow down a more specific area. They were able to do so via a dynamic online model which was an upgrade of their old static hydraulic Aquis model made in 2018/2019. The collaboration between NIRAS and Frederiksberg utility started with the sectioning of the distribution network, continued with the upgrade and currently covers operation and maintenance of the online model in Aquis.
Results obtained
- Rapid identification and handling of contamination
"The great advantage of having such an online model was that, without any delay at the very first meeting, we could open the model and observe how the water was moving around in the network. And we could continuously use the model to identify new sampling sites. I would estimate that we saved about one week in the tracing work because of the online model."
says Jesper Holm Jørgensen, project manager at NIRAS.
Effective tracking
Every 5th minute the Aquis online-model is collecting data from all network sources, district metered area inlets, and pressure loggers in the network. Based on this data the model automatically calculates pressure, flow and water quality of the entire network every 15th minute. The calculated water quality shows the percentage of water from each distribution source, thus the composition of water in any part of the network, why it was possible by the first emergency meeting to identify that the area of interest received water from a mix of four different water sources.
The online-model was an essential tracking tool along with an extensive program of water tests, daily action meetings, and a close dialogue with the authorities and citizens.
This enabled the utility a continued narrowing down of the area of interest simultaneously with the ongoing tracking and testing, and based on tests and flow calculations from the model rapidly clear sections of the network. After 10 days, the source was located, isolated from the rest of the network and the recommendations were canceled. It turned out that the source was a recently installed pipeline in central Frederiksberg which could be isolated as it was not directly connected to any consumers.
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