News & Media > Utility Services
29:06:2010
A 'Wizard' solution for South West Water
The ‘Hydrant Wizard’ system has been successfully trialled at May Gurney’s Crownhill depot in Plymouth and will now be deployed at sites across the South West Water Integrated Water Distribution Services* contract. This new technology allows defective fire hydrants to be replaced quickly and without the need for extensive customer notification and planned network shutdowns.
Fire hydrants are usually situated in the road surface and until now it has often been more cost effective to replace them than to attempt an in situ repair.
Current practice involves shutting down the main either by closing valves or using traditional line-stopping techniques. However, with valves often some distance away, supplies to customers would be interrupted - and both methods of shutting down and restoring the supply can disturb sediment in the main leading to complaints regarding water quality.
The Hydrant Wizard technology allows an inflatable isolation bag to be inserted into the pipe while maintaining a fully pressurised network. The existing water pressure is used to inflate the bag and isolate the section of pipe to be worked on.
The system is unique in that it does not require any additional pumping equipment during inflation of the bag. Once the maintenance work is completed, the bag is simply deflated, retracted and the pipe permanently sealed.
Footnote: Earlier this year, South West Water (SWW) renewed and expanded May Gurney’s long-term maintenance contract for integrated water distribution services. The contract covers repair and maintenance work to the clean water network, including metering, for the whole SWW region. The contract is for an initial period of three years with a total value of up to £50m, plus possible extensions for up to 10 years with a total value of up to £170m.
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