Australian Water Management Review Vol. 1 2014 | Page 49

Drew Russell – system controller, SCDA monitoring.

Local technology has been utilised to develop the
Distribution Optimiser, with Adelaide company
Optimatics behind the tool.
“The Distribution Optimiser works out the best
way of getting water from the Murray River to the
reservoirs, the best way to manage the reservoirs,
the best way to treat the water. These enormous
pumps can chew through dollars, so you need to
be considerate when running them and you set the
water up to be in the places where the demand will
be. Demand changes every day, so you have to be
aware of notable impacts and anticipate them. The
Distribution Optimiser is working, but it’s still in
the test environment right now. We’re getting it all
right in the testing environment and then when we
are happy with it we’ll shift it over to the production
environment.”
Staffed by both SA Water and its metropolitan
alliance partner Allwater, the OCC is operated by a
rotating roster of operators 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.
“Before the OCC, Allwater broke the task up and
it wasn’t one control centre per se – they mixed it
with a dispatch centre. We created a proper control
environment with staff experienced in this, as you
need to have the right sort of mind 6WBF