6 Parameters monitored simultaneously 
from more than 20 local & external water sources 

The Beijing Waterworks Group Co., Ltd. installed pipe::scan in the drinking water network of more than 5.3 million households to monitor the drinking water quality since 2017.

“The pipe::scan measures total chlorine/free chlorine, color, turbidity, pH, conductivity and temperature in one system. Other organic pollution parameters like TOC, DOC, UV254 can be added. After more than 6 months of testing, the equipment is running stable, the measurement is reliable and there is a super long maintenance cycle. These new devices increase the possibility of large-scale monitoring networks in the supply system.”

Yanyang Hou (Manager) – Beijing Clean water Co., Ltd.

Challenges Faced

1. Beijing’s water supply includes more than 20 local and external sources which create a complexity in monitoring which is rare
2. The ageing urban network threatens water quality so automatic water quality monitoring equipment had to be installed in the pipe network itself
3. The installation space of the test site is small 
4. The pipeline is made of ageing cast iron which in turn could affect the turbidity reading
5. Maintenance
6. Laboratory validation is required to determine whether the instruments transfer the water quality data correctly to SCADA

s::can’s solution

• For the parameters like turbidity, free/total chlorine, pH and conductivity, the system was equipped with s::can sensors including automatic brush cleaning, and the con::cube terminal
• For the aged pipe, a double-layer filter was added, to make sure that iron particles do not interfere with measurement results. 
• SCADA gets the data via the RS485/Modbus protocol from the con::cube.

Benefits

1. Real-time monitoring of different parameters so that changes in water quality can be detected timeously
2. Maintenance response is faster which improves network reliability
3. A better understanding of water quality changes in the entire water supply network using historical and actual readings
4. Total chlorine monitoring effectively controls the amount of added chlorine and reduces the formation of disinfection by-products. It also determines the multiplication activities of microorganisms in the pipe network water which enables effective process control operation of the water system
5. Extremely low manual maintenance. Only needs regular manual sampling comparison and calibration
6. Continuous monitoring with insertion installation
7. No discharge and pollution, which leads to water savings