Australian Water Management Review Vol. 1 2014 | Page 62

i2o innovAtion releAses 30%
operAtor tiMe, Cuts energY Costs
And leAkAge rAtes for MAnilA WAter
Manila Water provides water and wastewater
services to more than 6.2 million people
in the East Zone of the Philippines’ capital
city. The area comprises one million
households, served by more than 800,000
water service connections.
Since its formation in 1997, Manila Water
has spent more than USD $85 million on
infrastructure improvements, which have
increased water availability and improved the
service levels to customers across the city.

N. Domingo Pump Station has a 54 MLD capacity
with three 100 HP pumps, one fitted with a variable
speed drive (VSD) and two with fixed speed drives.
However, the pumps require manual intervention via
SCADA interface to manage pressure and demand.
The Solution
In November 2011, the i2O Pump Pressure
Optimisation solution was installed at the N.
Domingo Pump Station. The pump controller was
housed in the programmable logic controller cabinet,
and a pressure sensor was installed at the critical
point in the network. Service levels had been set to a
minimum of 18m and a maximum of 25m.
Prior to the installation of the i2O system, pressure at
the critical point dipped below 18m for 12 per cent of
the time, and dropped to 15m during peak periods. In
contrast, for eight hours a day pressure was typically
5m over the 25m threshold.

The Challenge
The region covered by Manila Water’s network
includes areas of high elevation, which require
pumps to maintain a constant supply of water and to
keep water pressure at specified levels. The company
operates 26 pumping stations to supply water to its
customers and to feed storage facilities. Pumping all
of this water requires a significant amount of energy
which, combined with some of the most expensive
power rates in Asia, mean that pumping costs are one
of the company’s biggest operating expenses. Manila
Water was keen to find a way to improve efficiency,
reduce its energy use, optimise pressure across the
network, reduce volumes of non-revenue water and
improve customer service levels.
“We’d heard about i2O at an industry water loss
conference,” said Jalil B. Madueño, Manager of
Production Planning and Control at Manila Water.
“We decided to pilot i2O’s Pump Pressure Optimisation
solution in the N. Domingo Pump Station, one of our
newly rehabilitated pump stations.”
N. Domingo Pump Station supplies a wide range
of domestic and commercial customers, including
hospitals, hotels, schools and colleges. As a result,
the area has very high and very variable demand for
water, with flows ranging from 40 l/s at night, up to
175 l/s during peak demand. Pressure variations were
leading to excessive wear and tear on the network,
resulting in bursts and high water loss. As well as
high levels of leakage, the area was failing to meet
its agreed customer service levels for pressure on a
daily basis.
56 | AustrAliAn water man age m e nt re v ie w

The i2O pump solution was configured to automatically
control the VSD pump, and to switch the two fixed
speed pumps on and off as required, to ensure
customer service levels were consistently achieved
without creating excess pressure in the network.
A primary requirement for the technology was that
it could manage the complex pump set-up without
compromising customer service. To ensure the
system operated smoothly, 24 hours a day, the i2O
solution was fully integrated with the existing SCADA
system, with real-time alarms to notify the plant
manager of any issues.
The Results
i2O’s technology has delivered significant savings for
Manila Water.
By pumping at lower pressures and at lower
throughput, the N. Domingo Pumping Station now
uses significantly less energy, which in turn lowers
the company’s operational costs. Energy use has
been reduced by 283kWh per day, which equates to
annual savings of £12,866 (827,000 PhP) for this one
pump station.
Weekday leakage has been reduced by 14 per cent
and weekend leakage by 22 per cent. This equates to
an average of 580,000 litres per day, with an average
overall saving of 18 per cent. This has reduced costs
by £7,200 (480K PhP) per annum. Burst rates have
also been reduced due to lower maximum pressures
and smoother control of pressure.
The company now achieves its daily customer
service levels for pressure 99.8 per cent of the time,
compared to just 88 per cent of the time before the
i2O system was installed.

The total combined savings resulting from lower
leakage levels and lower energy consumption are
£20,066 (1.3 million PhP) per annum.
“Thanks to i2O’s technology we have unlocked
around 30 per cent of our operators’ time, as they
no longer need to manually schedule and carry out
changes,” said Madueño. “As a result, they are able
to spend more time on strategic issues, such as
maintenance, checking stocks and planning.
“Controlling the variable speed pumping to
automatically optimise pressure has been extremely
successful for us, and we’ve seen impressive results
from using i2O so far.
“The i2O system has given us much better visibility
of pump performance, which enables us to make
better decisions. The fact that we can access and
view the system 24 hours a day means we can react
faster and improve our response time, which in turn
is further increasing our customer service levels,”
said Madueño.
“With wider deployment, we estimate that it could
extend the life of our infrastructure by around five to
ten years. This will not only help us safeguard our
assets, but also lower capital expenditure over the
longer term.”
Manila Water has now identified another eight pump
stations as potential sites for i2O systems, which the
company expects to deploy in the coming months.
Return on investment
• Energy savings of 283kWh per day, reducing
energy costs by £12,866 (827,000 PhP) per year.
• Leakage reduced by 580,000 litres per day
delivering 18% average saving.
• Customer service levels achieved 99.8% of the
time, up from 88% before i2O deployment.
• Manpower efficiencies – automation releases 30%
of operators’ time.
• Zero impact on customer service during testing
and implementation.
• Reliable network performance data improves
decision making.
• Infrastructure life extended by five to ten years.
• Reductions in longer term investment and capital
expenditure.
• Total annual cost savings of £20,000 (1.3m PhP).