Orbicon is developing a new system - uGraph WaterExtraction to ensure drinking water quality and energy saving in the production of drinking water. This is a significant and promising part of FutureWater - a major development project funded by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA).

- It is the largest development project in the history of Denmark, within the area of drinking water. I am amazed we have managed to bring together the most powerful players in terms of supply and expertise in this field. It enables us to face the challenges in the drinking water sector, says Project Manager Henrik Juul at VCS Denmark (Water Company of South Denmark).

"FutureWater" has a budget of 2.5 million Euro and is a collaborative project between the three major Water Companies in Denmark: Aarhus Vand, HOFOR in Copenhagen and VCS Denmark and beside Orbicon major consultancies within the water industry. Furthermore the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is involved.

In the future there will be much more focus on automated operations in order to continuously reduce costs and secure quality.

- This goes hand in hand with economic considerations, such as CO2 emissions and transport issues, and we must be much more in tune with the surrounding community’s needs in the way we manage the water supply, says Henrik Juul.

Software saves energy

uGraph WaterExtraction can ensure optimized well field procedures, taking into account water quality, energy efficiency and a minimized impact on the source.

- An early version of the system has been assessed in pilots in Denmark, Poland, The Netherlands and the US. Potentially, the energy consumption can be reduced by 20 – 50 %. So there is a large potential for cost savings, while at the same time providing a much more secure operation, says Omar Christian Thomsen, Head of Water Supply at Orbicon.

- We can offer the water companies a system, which significantly can improve operations and with DTU on board the calculation methods in the system is concurrently developed and validated. They are probably the most qualified institution for the job, says Omar Christian Thomsen.

In the first half of 2014 an online-prototype is to be tested at VCS Denmark, followed by more advanced pilots at Aarhus Vand and HOFOR. In 2015 the online version of the system will be available for purchase and implementation at Water Companies, domestically and abroad.

- I can see huge potential for uGraph WaterExtraction in countries, where groundwater is a scarce resource or the quality is threaten if the abstraction for drinking water purposes is not balanced, thus sustainable. We want to support and ensure, that it is made accessible outside Denmark, says Annette Rye Larsen, Project Manager at Dalgas Innovation, which is among the sponsors.

Future developments includes intake of surface water from rivers and lake in order to produce drinking water, and taking into account a qualitative risk assessment scheme of the individual wells used in operation.