Real Time Monitoring and Analytic System of In-Building Water Distribution

Since April 2024, PUB has risen potable water price by 20 cents, from $2.74/m3 to $2.94/m3.PUB will further increase the potable water price by additional 30 cents ($3.24/m3) from 1 April 2025 onwards. To prevent wastage and ensure water is used efficiently, it is important to monitor all water usages within the building to allow early detection of leakages, illegal or abnormally high usages.
JTC is seeking innovative solutions to enable real time monitoring of the domestic water consumption and chilled water consumption improve overall site.\

Challenge
Certain sections of the domestic water distribution pipes maybe concealed within false ceilings and behind walls. As a building ages, there might be potential leaks in the pipes which will pose an issue if not discovered in a timely manner.

Efficient flush valves and water fittings are used for in common area toilets. Due to wear and tear, the flush valves and water fittings might malfunction and result in high wastages if not discovered early.

There are also taps in common areas. These are used by the conservancy team for common area washing. Although these taps are locked, there are occasions where the locks are broken and illegal used.

The proposed solution should be:

1. Able to gather accurate real-time information of areas of interests
2. Able to track the total water supplied to the building, the actual water consumed within all the water end uses and total water leaving the site
3. Water management assessment results are to be presented/visualised in an easy-to-understand format
4. Use machine learning to be able to predict a pipe leak (before it happens)
5. Use machine learning to identify spikes/unusual usages, analyse and propose potential root cause (e.g. leak, location, illegal tapping, etc).
6. Produce diagnostic reports, recommendations and follow up actions that is simple and understandable to a non-technical person
7. Able to provide estimated cost avoidance due to the predictive maintenance/early detection
8. Ensure minimal disruption to tenants during installation and operation
9. Ensure minimal disruption to the existing domestic water supply system

The envisioned solution shall be able to:

• Real-time information on various water usage activities at various areas (e.g. toilets, Cooling Towers, general washing, etc);
• Utilise industry benchmarks and past data to predict potential pipe leaks (including underground pipes), before it happens
• Early detection of areas with unusual usage in water consumption
• Provide diagnostic reports
• Calculate the potential cost avoidance due to early detection/predictive maintenance
• Chart and analyse water consumption
• Compares the total water supplied to the building, the actual water consumed within all the water end uses and total water leaving the site. This information should be presented/visualised in an easy-to-understand format.

A smart water management system with predictive maintenance and machine learning capability to detect leakages before it happens; and

Identify abnormal water usage using real-time information on water usage activities within an industrial building.

The solution will be tested out at CleanTech One. Site visit will be arranged for interested participants and is encouraged.