Valve Condition Assessment Technologies
Valve & Fire Hydrant Evaluations
Aqua Analytics provides reliable fire hydrant and valve condition assessment services in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Tasmania. Our services will ensure your water main will effectively shut down during a crisis to prevent damage to nearby properties. We will also test your fire hydrants and ensure they can deliver water at the correct pressure and flow when needed.
Using a combination of field testing and data analysis, we can accurately assess the condition of your reticulation valves and help you make informed decisions about repairs or replacements. Our team will provide comprehensive reporting on critical valve function and life expectancy, fire hydrant flow and pressure and required maintenance and repairs.
A valve condition assessment is a valuable service that complements water loss management and active leak detection.
What is Valve Condition Assessment
Understanding Valve Condition Assessment
Valve condition assessment involves the systematic evaluation of valves within a water distribution system to determine their functionality, reliability, and overall condition. This process includes both field testing and data analysis to provide an accurate understanding of each valve’s status. The assessment ensures that valves can effectively control water flow and shut down systems during emergencies, preventing damage and maintaining system integrity.
Regular valve condition assessments help utilities identify and address issues before they become critical, ensuring that the system operates reliably and safely. This proactive approach minimises the risk of property damage during crises and ensures that fire hydrants can deliver water at the correct pressure and flow during emergencies.
The Australian Experts in Valve Condition Assessment
Some of the reasons Aqua Analytics is the trusted valve condition assessment provider include:
- We have a wealth of experience in water distribution and valve assessment, providing expert and reliable services tailored to your needs.
- Our team of highly trained and skilled technicians uses advanced technology and methodologies to deliver accurate and detailed assessments of your valves and fire hydrants.
- We utilise advanced equipment and tools to conduct thorough valve assessments, ensuring precise data collection without the need for disruptive excavations.
- We have a proven history of delivering successful valve condition assessment projects, providing clients with actionable insights that lead to better asset management and cost savings.
- Our assessments include detailed reports on valve function and life expectancy, fire hydrant flow and pressure, and recommendations for maintenance and repairs, helping you make informed decisions about your water distribution system.
Benefits of Regular Valve Maintenance
Improved knowledge of valve inventory and required maintenance
Regular valve maintenance and assessments provide detailed information about each valve’s condition and performance. This ensures better planning and scheduling of maintenance activities, reducing unexpected failures.
Ongoing resilience of your water network
Keeping your valves in optimal condition enhances the overall resilience of your water distribution network. Properly functioning valves are crucial for controlling water flow and pressure, especially during emergencies or system disruptions.
Increased confidence in operational abilities
Regular valve assessments and maintenance build confidence in the reliability and efficiency of your water infrastructure. Knowing your valves are well-maintained allows operators to manage the system more effectively and respond swiftly to issues.
Reduced consequence during water main failures
Properly maintained valves can isolate sections of the network, reducing the impact of failures and preventing extensive water loss. Routine maintenance helps to identify and address potential problems before they escalate.
Improved condition of critical valves
Critical valves, such as those at key junctions or controlling high-pressure zones, require special attention. Regular maintenance ensures these essential components remain in top condition, supporting the overall functionality and safety of the water distribution system.
What Is the purpose of valve condition assessment?
Water utilities should develop programs to regularly undertake valve condition assessment and maintenance to improve organisational knowledge about their valve inventory.
Broken, closed, missing or seized valves can significantly impact water main failure events that require emergency shutdown. Better water network knowledge and asset intelligence are critical for the management of these disruptive events. Other reasons why a valve condition assessment should be undertaken are:
- Reduce the risk of injuries to field staff who operate seized valves.
- This will increase confidence that critical valves are accessible and in good working condition, reducing the time required to undertake reactive repair works.
- Limit the number of customer interruptions during a water main burst or other network outages.
- Confirm the status of valves & provide this information to a hydraulic model to obtain more accurate insights.
What benefits can we achieve from a valve condition assessment?
Understanding the condition of your critical valves enhances your ability to control water flow within the distribution system effectively. It also allows you to extend valve life and quickly locate valves in the field when operation is required. Valve condition assessment enables:
- A complete inventory of distribution system valves & mapped with high accuracy using our specialist GPS-enabled field equipment
- More efficient future shutdown of water mains during burst events or reactive maintenance minimising the customer impact & damage to nearby property
- More insight into future CAPEX & OPEX requirements to improve valve operations & network reliability
- Greater confidence in Consequence of Failure (CoF) & Likelihood of Failure (LoF) studies
- Locating buried valves & improving access by removing debris from valve spindles
- Exercising seized valves maintaining asset health
- Identification of broken valves
- Identification of closed valves & determination of clockwise/anti-clockwise closing orientation
- Correctly identifying valve type (for example: scour valves that may be incorrectly shown as isolation valves)
- Extension of asset life by exercising valves until the torque required to operate is reduced
We use a range of specialised equipment to undertake our valve condition assessment and fire flow testing works.
Why undertake a fire hydrant assessment and flow testing in a water supply network?
Using fire hydrant testing to understand the condition of your hydrants allows minimal interruption when they are required at critical times. It is also important that, in times of need, these critical water assets can deliver the required pressures and flow rates to local regulations and standards. We utilise smart technologies to undertake hydrant inspections and assessments, leveraging the power of GIS integration solutions such as ESRI ArcGIS. Other aspects of our hydrant inspections are:
- Fire hydrant testing
- Hydrant pressure & flow testing
- Minor maintenance activities such as painting, removal of sediment, installation of marker pegs or reflective cat eyes
- Major maintenance activities such as repair or removal of yokes, spring ball, riser or tee (including developing shutdown plans or undertaking customer notifications)
- Water mains cleaning
- Capturing photographs & GPS data for integration into Asset Management Systems
- Locating missing or covered hydrants using asset-locating devices
- A full hydrant asset inventory using ArcGIS for easy integration into Enterprise tools
We can also provide active leak detection, pipeline condition assessment, and water loss management solutions.
Proactive valve condition assessment can assist with worker health and safety. Workplace health and safety is the biggest priority of most water utilities in Australia and New Zealand. Undertaking a valve condition assessment program enhances the safety of your field teams since the mechanical operation of valves will significantly reduce the risk of valve operator injuries. Improve the safety of your teams by implementing a structured valve condition assessment program.
How do we implement a valve condition assessment or fire hydrant flow testing project?
Valve condition assessment and hydrant flow testing projects are very beneficial for identifying and repairing discrepancies in enterprise datasets. If you want to improve your water network performance, reduce customer impacts and increase operational reliability, contact us today to discuss our valve and hydrant condition assessment options throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Where are your offices and what areas do you operate in?
With offices across Australia and New Zealand, we regularly provide services to water network operators in all regions. If you are unsure whether we can reach you, contact us, and we’ll let you know whether we can help.
