Autonomous Water Testing for Quality Testing and Analysis

Autonomous Water Monitoring from KETOS

Leveraging Autonomous water monitoring technology can help water operators accelerate insights and reduce costs.

Typically, water monitoring is a labor-intensive process. With the traditional instrumentation, installation, maintenance and calibration efforts that are required, water operators need the staff to be able to handle the job of testing. This requires the assistance of specialized staff.

Frequent testing is also costly whether there is in-house or lab-based testing. Each unique incidence of every unique test taken at various unique locations typically represents an added cost as well. When using self-managed instrumentation, both acquisition costs and maintenance/ supplies/calibration costs contribute toward a running total, with much of that expense represented as a high up-front expenditure. 

However, as the water industry shifts its approach to monitoring, an IaaS solution can provide all contracted readings at a predetermined fee — without surcharges for the number of metrics tested or the frequency of water quality readings. There also isn’t a high up-front capital expenditure. The fee, instead, arrives monthly and is typically equivalent to the cost of three or four external lab tests per month, depending on geographic location. The best part (beyond the favorable pricing structure): water monitoring becomes completely automated.

Automation Unleashed at Every Level of Service

The power of KETOS is its ability to allow water operators to choose exactly what parameters they need to be monitored autonomously. That way, they’re collecting only the data sets that matter to their business.

Water operators are empowered to configure:

  • Specific parameters. Users can track dozens of parameters with KETOS. This includes pH, salinity, heavy metal content, dissolved oxygen, and more)
  • The frequency of tests. Operators can set their desired collection frequency for efficient and accurate real-time information gathering.
  • The entire water network. As a modular solution, KETOS can be placed at strategic nodes within any type of infrastructure. Each device effectively “talks” to a central dashboard that will collect and collate the data points for easy visual analysis and reporting.

In addition, in the case of the KETOS Wave, the hardware itself is self-powered and completely autonomous. There’s no need for secondary electrical hook-ups as the device draws its power from the water itself.

Autonomous Water Monitoring Across Industries

IaaS water testing can serve as:

  • A totally automated alternative to current manual testing practices
  • An upgrade for rapidly aging instrumentation
  • As a pinpoint solution to fill specific gaps in mechanical monitoring programs for water quality, heavy metals, inorganics, or nutrients. 

Here, for example, are some industry-specific applications where it currently delivers detailed insights via a pay-as-you-go service instead of a capital-intensive investment.

Industrial

In various industrial applications, continuous, real-time results help to maintain process operations at optimal levels in order to maximize testing efficiency while minimizing costs. Areas where automation really shows its merit include:

  • Process Control. The ability to diagnose incoming water quality and optimize chemical feed rates leads to balanced water chemistry. These continuous processes can quickly pay for the cost of IaaS monitoring.  
  • Water Discharge Compliance. Timely, accurate readings across multiple water-quality metrics are essential for monitoring effluent water quality and avoiding discharge violation penalties. 

Municipal

Supplemental IaaS capabilities that address changing water conditions, compliance requirements, or distribution issues can quickly pinpoint problems not tracked by existing systems. Municipal use cases can cover:

  • Public Health. Autonomous water monitoring allows operators to quantify emerging water quality challenges at discrete water sources or distribution points. 
  • Pipe Conditions. Monitoring for distribution system leaks or corrosion problems can help localize repairs instead of relying on wholesale rip-and-replace scenarios.
  • Water Reuse. Adding continuous influent and effluent monitoring capabilities at a fixed price can address a community’s water reuse standards. 

Agricultural

Automated monitoring to track irrigation water quality and quantity can affect multi-tiered improvements in overall productivity. Areas of autonomous use in the agriculture sector include:

  • Source Water Monitoring. Surface and groundwater monitoring can protect crops against contamination and help to maintain food-source transparency. 
  • Crop Yield/Taste Impacts. Accurate irrigation scheduling helps to maximize crop yields and overall crop quality while conserving precious water resources. 
  • Nutrient Management. Tracking of irrigation water nutrient levels is critical for cost-effective dosing in indoor/vertical growing applications. Conversely, accurate nutrient-level readings from field-ag runoff support regulatory compliance and optimum fertilizer management. 

Tangible ROI for Autonomous Water Monitoring

As the water industry continues to digitize, adding an IaaS solution into existing infrastructure can help save money in the long run. More importantly, its autonomous capabilities allow operators to standardize testing and choose parameters that affect their bottom line.

The result is ROI operators can track from day one. Industries and utilities across the board have been able to visibly note how IaaS has reduced downtime, protected equipment, reduced rejected batches, and increased quality.

If you want to understand how KETOS can bring more clarity to your water quality while improving your ROI, contact us and schedule a demo.

 

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