www.waterafrica.co.za
Water Sewage & Effluent May/June 2019
31
innovations
One definition is that utilities form part
of the production facilities that is a
service to production but is not part
of the core manufacturing process.
Utilities comprises of water, air, gas,
electricity and steam. Water is one of
the most important raw materials for
What is meant by ‘utilities’?
W
e know that factors
like climate change,
increasing population
and industrialisation
intensifies
water
scarcity. Solutions such as water
abstraction from groundwater and
rivers must be controlled to avoid
irreversible damage to the local
water balance. Various challenges
introduced by contamination result
in treatment for safe drinking water
to be more and more difficult, and
this, in turn, results in more complex
processes that need careful monitoring
to ensure water safety.
Industry has a responsibility to fulfil
environmental legislations, while at
the same time managing their risk in
the water treatment process. While
risk management systems and water
safety plans to reduce the risk of
contamination of potable water during
abstraction, treatment and distribution
are in place in most industries, safety
plans stipulate that documentation
management, instrument verification
and maintenance strategies support
the advanced quality management
system. This demands a high level of
automation and online instrumentation.
Extracting key metering and
monitoring information can help reduce
operating costs, maximise feedwater
quality and reduce the amount of
preparation required. Water analysis
panels, for example, monitor a wide
range of parameters in all industries
and their utilities.