CONtROL ROOM COOL
>>
the stuff of life
There are the daily conveniences of life, and
those things that make modern life possible.
But when it comes to a true must-have, water
is the stuff of life. At NorthumbrianWater,
they move 700 million litres of it a day to
residential and industrial clients. And it has to
be perfect.
Rob Elrington, Operations Manager inWater
Production, spoke to
Sphere
and explained,
“Quality is key. It’s an extra dimension of
the work we have. If gas or electricity comes
through a bit iffy, it’s one thing. But water has
to be clean enough to drink.” This 28-year
veteran of the firm shed some light on the
mysteries of the Control Room.
Control Control Control
“You’re better to be in control, than out
of control.”
This sums up the philosophy behind
the NorthumbrianWater control room
operators. Two people watch over a system
that controls over 3,000 sites – major water
and waste water control facilities – and more
than 53,000 points (pieces of information)
are measured. Their job is to see problems
before they happen, making adjustments
before it becomes a problem to customers.
With a system this big, you can’t watch for
problems and solve them at the same time –
so the team is split into parts.
Northumbrian Water had its origins in many
smaller companies that were consolidated
over time. As a consequence, the firm had
multiple control rooms controlling smaller
areas. But now, one control room controls
the whole vast system. While the 24/7
controllers deal with the worst problems,
coded as P1 or P2 alarms, most problems
are automatically routed to field operators
who can move to a trouble spot and fix
problems independently; these are coded
P3 or P4 alarms.
P1 and P2 alarms cover potential disruptions
in service, such as flooding or a major pipe
break – although these happen very rarely.
P3 and P4 alarms are the ones which do not
require such immediate attention.
The control room is supported by standby
teams who can be called on out of normal
hours to assist in dealing with major
problems. Just because there is a problem
in one area does not mean the other 53,000
points of information can be neglected.
This division of labour between network
controllers, field specialists and problem
solvers makes sure that the incidents are
manageable. In the words of Mr Elrington,
“operators don’t want to become lost in a
sea of alarms”. Given such a vast system,
even a small percentage of minor issues
would overflow a control room without
robust systems in place.
Still, about 1,000 alarms a day, mostly out of
office hours, make it to a control room desk.
This is down from 5,000 a day as systems
improve. The controllers must be well trained
and ready for anything. They use one of
the old control rooms from previous water
companies as back-up. Rob Elrington
remembers on one occasion there was a
problemwith their power supply and they had
to instantly decamp to their back-up site over
35miles away – and did so without a hitch.
Controllers do not have to be university
trained, but are trained by Northumbrian
Water. Controllers can come from
operations teams within the company or
from other control room environments.
The old saw about how it all flows downhill
makes water distribution seem an easy game.
But the complex systems, detailed alarm
protocols and the lifetime commitment of
the people at NorthumbrianWater belay the
truth: huge effort and intelligence goes into
making sure they can stay in control. That is
why they call it, after all, The Control Room.
northumbrianwater
Still, about 1,000 calls a day,
mostly during off hours, make
it to a control room desk.
This is down from 5,000 a day
as systems improve.
SpHere
#34
2013
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