As part of South Africa’s National Water Week 2023, which ran from 20-26 March, technology leader, ABB, has expressed that the automation level in the water industry needs to improve in order to cope with the increasing demand for fresh and clean water
“The water industry needs to automate their processes to increase plant efficiency, productivity and reduce plant maintenance costs. This will bring a more reliable service and preserve the water we have. With continuous investment in this area, we can ensure the responsible use of water,” commented Joyce Moganedi, local division sales manager (power and water) at ABB.
Moganedi explained that the water industry can use affordable SCADA and PLC solutions and that ABB offers automation at all levels of complexity, including DCS, and as an enabler for future developments.
“We believe these types of solutions are the catalysts needed for the successful implementation of industrial IoT and agile navigation to Industry 4.0,” remarked Moganedi.
SCADA systems offer the flexibility to monitor, control and automatically manage specific plant processes. These range from visual awareness of operations to real-time information to act on any abnormalities in the plant and increased plant availability; having accessibility to remote operations in the plant anywhere at any time; and increased efficiency and productivity.
ABB is also expanding its digital offering to ensure improved monitoring and reporting of a safe and reliable service and solutions for predictive maintenance combined with process optimisation.
“I think the lack of progress in the water industry towards refurbishing and developing new infrastructure is linked to the lack of funding. It has paralysed the water sector to some extent and has delayed the implementation of significant projects,” added Moganedi.
