Water resources management by a flexible wireless broadband network

 

Presented at EuroMed 2006 conference on Desalination Strategies in South Mediterranean Countries: Cooperation between Mediterranean Countries of Europe and the Southern Rim of the Mediterranean. Sponsored by the European Desalination Society and the University of Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 21–25 May 2006.

 

S.A. Avlonitis (a), M. Pappas (a), K. Moutesidis (a), M. Pavlou (a), P. Tsarouhas (a) and V.N. Vlachakis (a)

 

a. Laboratory of Quality Control and Operations Management, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technological Educational Institution (T.E.I.) of Halkidas, 34400 Psaxna EVIA, Greece

Received 5 February 2006; accepted 4 April 2006. Available online 9 February 2007.

 

 

 

The scarcity of water around the world is forcing the water authorities to use water resources which are scattered in remote areas with low accessibility and impossible permanent wire connections. On the other hand, the water resources are generally in long distances between each other and all of them are very far from the water consumption area. This constrains the administrative organizations to spend human and fund resources for controlling, monitoring and maintaining the installations with poor results, since no constant supervision can be achieved. The technological combination of wireless broadband networks, modern systems of signal control and data acquisition, computers/software and telematics can provide an excellent solution for this problem. In this work the process of planning and installation of a system, for the telematic control and management of eleven wells and storage installations and distribution process for the Municipality of Thira (Santorini, Greece) is presented. The installation has been planed to check the pumping stations, the levels of water tanks as well as qualitative data of the water supplies, from distance through a wireless network. The system interacts automatically or manually with the installations and to preset points, giving complete records of the data and alarms to any malfunction or oncoming breakdown. The proposed solution is expandable regarding the installations in control and the signals which are collected and checked. The equipment which is used is simple keeping the budget of the installation low. However, the equipment has been tested for enough period of time and the proposed solution has been proved to be reliable and reasonably low-cost for the water resources management.

 

Keywords: Water resources management; Wireless broadband network; SCADA systems

 

 

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