Abstract
Managers and engineers working on drinking water management are well aware that the design and development of a district metering area (DMA) should aim to allow constant monitoring and control of all parameters affecting the dynamics of the distribution system, in terms of both supply and demand, in order to increase efficiency as much as possible, which means serving citizens with enough good quality water at an equitable cost using the minimum resources, energy and effort. Reliable, pervasive access to measurement is vital in order to enable this. This rationale led the European Union’s Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) to fund the WETNET Eco-Innovation Project, the aim of which was to bring to the market a reliable, low-cost integrated system to help the water industry control water grids better and reduce energy costs and GHG emissions, making the most of their resources. The WETNET system includes a low-cost, reliable in-pipe flow meter that will be routinely and extensively placed in pressurized water networks, data collection and transmission devices, and sophisticated software for analysis, prediction, management and control.
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Acknowledgements
The WETNET system has been conceived, designed, produced and marketed by BRE Elettronica srl (manufacturer of the WETNET sensors and telemetry devices), Ingegnerie Toscane srl (which developed the software and engineered and integrated the overall system), Bimatik Sas (which assisted with sales in Italy) and Instituto Tecnológico de Galicia—ITG (supporting sales in Spain, Portugal and Latin America).
The WETNET Project was developed under the Eco-innovation initiative of the EU’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP), supporting the innovation and competitiveness of SMEs.
Acque SpA, running the IWM of Pisa, Italy, adopted and implemented the WETNET approach and system from the beginning, thus becoming an early demonstrator and validation site. The Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy) contributed towards analyzing the implementation of the WETNET Platform from an academic viewpoint.
The author wishes to thank Cei O. (Ingegnerie Toscane srl, Via De Sanctis 49, 50136 Florence (FI), Italy), Creati M. (BRE Elettronica srl, Via Di Cardeta 2/B - Arena Metato, 56017 San Giuliano Terme (PI), Italy), Assunti S. and Mancuso F. (Ingegnerie Toscane srl), Santinello P. (Klink srl, Via G. del Papa 88, 50053 Empoli (FI), Italy).
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Donnarumma, S.A. (2018). Acea-WETNET: True Monitoring of Water Networks. In: Gilardoni, A. (eds) The Italian Water Industry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71336-6_9
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