Automating largest drinking water filtration plant

Emerson has won a USD5.3M contract to digitally automate Canada's largest drinking water filtration plant, which will use UV disinfection and geoexchange processes to supply 2M residents

Emerson Process Management has received a USD5.3 million contract from the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) to install PlantWeb digital automation architecture at the Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant, which is under construction.

GVRD, a partnership of more than 20 municipalities comprising the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, serves more than 2 million residents.

The District and electoral areas are building the filtration plant to help meet new federal and provincial standards for drinking water treatment.

When completed in 2008, the Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant will be Canada's largest drinking water filtration plant combined with the world's largest ultraviolet (UV) disinfection facility, filtering up to 475 million gallons of water per day from the Seymour and Capilano Reservoirs.

UV disinfection is the process of applying UV energy to destroy or inactivate micro-organisms without altering the water chemically.

The Emerson PlantWeb digital automation solution includes deployment of the DeltaV digital automation system, which will provide data acquisition, and will monitor and control water filtration, chemical feed, and operation of all motors and variable-speed drives.

The DeltaV system will also interface with the controls native to the plant UV disinfection and geoexchange processes.

Additionally, a supervisory server at the plant will maintain constant communications with remote terminal units (RTU) at reservoirs and pumping stations, providing plant operators with vital information about these remote facilities.

Additional Emerson technologies included as part of the PlantWeb solution include Rosemount 848T and 848L transmitters, and Emerson AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager software.

The Emerson Power and Water Solutions industry centre will supply software and engineering services, while Norpac Controls, their exclusive local business partner in British Columbia, will provide the hardware.

"The Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant plays a central role in fulfilling the District's mission of providing high-quality drinking water to our member municipalities in a sustainable manner," said Tom Wong, the District project manager for the DeltaV project: "Emerson has the right combination of relevant experience - including its involvement with large, complex water projects - and the proven control technologies we were looking for to support this important initiative".

In addition to the significant scope of its UV disinfection process, the Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant is noteworthy for embracing other innovative processes and technologies, as well.

For example, the plant is the first such facility in British Columbia to utilize a geoexchange system to provide energy efficient and cost effective space heating, cooling and hot water heating at the plant.

Furthermore, the overall project also features an energy recovery unit that will produce electricity from the high pressure treated water supplied to the Capilano service area to be used by the GVRD.

"The Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant is significant on a number of fronts and the District is to be commended for undertaking this innovative water treatment project," said John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management, who points out that Emerson automation and control systems oversee the processes at some of the world's largest water and wastewater treatment facilities.

"Obviously we are pleased that the Emerson PlantWeb digital automation solution is among the cutting-edge technologies implemented as part of this important project".

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