A Swiss company is applying an advanced control and monitoring system to the water distribution network in Ho Chi Minh City, claiming the technology will cut daily water loss by up to half a million cubic meters.

Saigon Water Corporation (SAWACO), the municipal utility, is carrying out a major project to reduce water leakage in the Vietnamese megacity to only 10 percent by 2020.

As of June 2016, the water loss ratio in Ho Chi Minh City was lowered to 27.83 percent, according to SAWACO. The rate remains high compared to the five to seven percent in most developed countries.

ABB, a Zurich-based firm operating in the fields of robotics, power and automation technology, is cooperating with SAWACO to attain the water loss reduction goal with a strategic system known as the ABB Ability Symphony Plus.

Boasting a sophisticated leakage-detection and management system, the ABB technology will deploy several data collection points, including sensors and meters for flow and pressure monitoring, to the water network, ABB said in a press release on Wednesday.

“This will allow SAWACO to digitally monitor the network conditions in nearly real time,” the company said.

The Ho Chi Minh City utility will be able to continually detect, analyze and manage network events, transforming that information into immediate actions to reduce the water loss.

ABB’s scope of supply for the SAWACO project includes field instrumentation and sensors that are critical components to deliver high quality data to the control system.

"Projects like Ho Chi Minh City water network show the full potential of advanced automation for all municipalities dealing with rapid expansions or aging infrastructures," Kevin Kosisko, managing director of ABB’s power generation and water business, commented.

“Furthermore, the smart collection of digital data from the field will offer real-time insights on the network status, allowing for increased revenues.”

With the real-time knowledge of network conditions and the accurate detection of leaks provided by the ABB tech, SAWACO will be able to increase the amount of water delivered to households and industries, the Swiss company said.

“[ABB] technology will minimize the estimated 500,000 cubic meters of non-revenue water lost per day, roughly the daily capacity of a medium-sized water plant in the city,” the company asserted.

The Vietnamese city wasted more than 150 million cubic meters of water last year.

The massive water loss is attributed to the local aging water distribution network, which currently stretches around 33,000 kilometers, serving more than eight million residents.

Many parts of the water distribution infrastructure are old, with some sections built more than 30 years ago, while others even date back to the French colonial era.

Besides the SAWACO project, ABB said its Ability Symphony Plus has also been chosen for other major projects in Vietnam such as the original commissioning and further extension of the Vinh Tan 4 supercritical power plant, located 250 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Upon completion, the complex will provide an additional 5,600 megawatts of electricity for the Vietnamese national grid.

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