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24/06/2011
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Organisers of the Glastonbury festival say they can now accurately monitor water consumption and solar energy, since installing videographic recorders and flowmeters.
 Festival infrastructure manager Phil Miller explains that the annual Pilton festival sees the local population increase by around 175,000 people, requiring more than 1 million gallons of water over the five days – putting significant strain on the mains water supply despite the installation of new water mains by the local authorities in 1997.
Millers says the initial solution was an army of tankers, but at £500 per tank, it wasn't cheap and so for this year, a second £400,000 reservoir has been constructed – and hence the monitoring equipment covering water level, potable water feed supply and power used by the feed pumps.
ABB Alliance partner, AM Sensors supplied two SM500F electronic data recorders and electromagnetic flowmeter systems, to display and log the parameters – enabling the organisers to correlate water usage against the supply company billing.
Miller e3xplains that the display system also means that reservoir levels can be monitored to provide early warning of supply requirements and ensure dosing routes are in compliance, while also validating pump rates.
An SM3000 videographic data recorder also records energy generated from the new £1m solar panel system installed this year on the roof of the 'mootel'. AM Sensors also supplied an ABB WaterMaster to measure flowrate of water being pumped into the onsite reservoirs and pipework system, used for the feed pump speed control system.
"The aim of the project was to reduce the amount of water brought in. Not only has this been achieved but the investment has easily paid for itself," says Miller.
"The information collected is used for bill evaluation, giving us an accurate and easy to understand record of our usage. This ensures we don't pay for any more water than we use – and the reservoir is more environmentally-friendly, with fewer lorries coming onto the site."
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Author
Brian Tinham
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