Advances in Water Treatment and Enviromental Management

PLANT MONITORING AND CONTROL SYSTEMS 91Against this background of change, the 1988 Severn Trent Water businessplan states ‘The main objectives of the organisation are to improve our.services where necessary and maintain them over most of the region wherethey are satisfactory’.One of the many ways Severn Trent Water expects to maintain the trend oflower operating costs is to ‘Ensure that organisational structure isappropriate for the services to be provided in the light of improvingtechnology and techniques’.Technology in the form of telemetry has contributed to the downward trendof operating costs whilst upgrading the level of service through an increasedoperational monitoring and control capability.The present organisational structure provides a clear definition betweenoperations and support services. Fifteen operational districts have beenformed each managed by an accountable District Manager. DistrictManagers inherited a variety of instrumentation, control and telemetrysystems with a wide variance in age, capability and usefulness. Seven ofthe 15 operating districts relied on systems which were perceived to begiving reduced reliability and increased cost of maintenance.Equally Severn Trent Water were aware, and had experienced the pitfallsand problems where technology rather than the operational need, determinedthe levels of investment. Also, within the wider ICA industry, many casesare reported of project failures due to operator dissatisfaction, increasedcost of ownership, inappropriate and often over-engineered design solutions,extended development programmes and protracted commissioning.Severn Trent Water adopted a pragmatic and business approach to resolvingthe issue of what, if anything, was required to maintain and improve thesupervision and management of district sites and assets. The principalquestions asked were:(i)(ii)(iii)What are the available solution options?How do they compare?What is the optimum level of investment commensurate with thebenefits to be obtained?In September 1988, Severn Trent Water formed a small project team toaddress the above issues. This team comprised Severn Trent Waterengineering services, Kennedy and Donkin Systems Control Ltd (KDSC) asengineering consultants and a management consultant. The project (if indeedthere was a need for one), was to be titled ‘The Plant Monitoring and ControlSystem (PMCS)’.