Water utility reduces pump station visits by 50%

The utility Roslagsvatten in Sweden needed a more efficient way to inspect its pump stations. It decided to test Avensor Remote Inspection from Xylem, a brand-agnostic hardware kit that sends live video, audio and data to operators. The solution reduced pump station visits by 50%, giving operators more time to focus on crucial tasks.

Roslagsvatten serves five counties in the Stockholm area, providing 130,000 people with services for wastewater, drinking water, and waste disposal. The utility's operators manage 20 treatment plants and more than 200 pump stations, which need to be regularly inspected and maintained.

The Remote Inspection pilot project

In 2021, Xylem and Roslagsvatten began a pilot project to test the Remote Inspection kit at 16 pump stations in its network. Avensor Remote Inspection provides operators with 24/7 live audio, video, and data for each pump station, enabling more informed, data-driven decisions about pump stations and improving maintenance and their response times.

The utility's goal for participating in the pilot project was to reduce costs for physical inspections, reduce vehicle emissions associated with routine and unplanned maintenance, and reduce energy consumption at pumping stations.

The first step was installing the hardware kit in each station. The kit includes a dome camera, level sensor, power meter and modem, all of which are compatible with any brand of equipment. The camera provides a live view and audio of pumps, wells, and other station assets, and the level sensor and power meter send data to a monitoring tool that helps detect anomalies.

When the Remote Inspection hardware kit is connected to Xylem Avensor, a digital monitoring solution, operators receive 24/7 live video, audio and data from each pump station that can be accessed via an online, user-friendly interface and mobile app.

Less time spent on pump station inspections

Initially, the utility installed one to two Remote Inspection units in each of the subregions of its network. However, installing a smaller number of units across multiple subregions did not result in meaningful changes to the utility's workflow. The utility decided to deploy 60 units in only two subregions, which delivered transformative results.

"With the Remote Inspection solution, we can see the status of each pump station, including daily changes in levels and power consumption," says Fredrik Wigertz, Engineer at Roslagsvatten. "The camera and the sensors are usually enough for us to have a secure feeling that the system is working."

By conducting visual inspections remotely, the utility saves time that would have been spent physically traveling to each pump station. A single operator can remotely inspect any number of stations from their office, home, or service truck. In addition, if any issues are detected, operators can arrive better prepared to solve them.

The solution can easily be fitted to stations that use any brand of pumps and controller equipment, with minimal installation time and costs.

A wastewater pumping station located in Vallentuna, Sweden, in the Roslagsvatten network.

Increasing the first-time fix rate at pump stations

With Avensor Remote Inspection, maintenance operators now deploy more efficiently, knowing what needs fixing before they arrive, enabling them to spend more time focusing on preventative maintenance for critical assets.

"The solution is user friendly and helps us make remote inspections quickly and frequently, so we never miss any of the anomalies that occur in our system," says Fredrik Wigertz. "Today we are driving less on routine inspections, and we are prioritizing more important jobs."

Since Roslagsvatten is spending less time traveling from station to station, the utility has also lowered their carbon emissions, supporting their efforts towards reaching net-zero targets.

Learn more about Xylem's solution for remote pump station inspections.

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