Measuring points for assessing groundwater morphology

Users:

For more than 50 years, the Technische Werke Osning (TWO) in Halle, Westphalia, have been supplying drinking water.
The catchment area of the Halle water protection zone covers 10.8 km² and supplies a total of 5,507 household connections via a 300 km pipeline network.
The average annual abstraction is approximately 1,350,000 m³ of groundwater.

TWO operates 13 production wells with a depth of approx. 20 m and extracts water from the second aquifer.

Task Definition:

In addition to the production wells, Technische Werke Osning operates over 120 groundwater monitoring points. These monitoring points are used to assess the groundwater morphology within the catchment area.
For the preparation of annual groundwater contour maps, as required by the water rights permit, an engineering consultancy was commissioned. For this purpose, reliable and continuous measurement data from the monitoring points is required.

Customer Requirements:

  • Autonomously operating system with long battery life
  • Automatic data transfer to the Internet
  • Vandalism resistance
  • High measurement accuracy
  • Robust and flood-proof hardware

Example of a groundwater measuring point

Open level cap, showing the attached data logger and antenna with cable

Implemantation:

ACS Control Systems has been working with Technische Werke Osning since 2012 in the field of water level measurement.
Since 2020, the monitoring stations at TWO have been equipped with devices from the ACS IoT Solution Generation.
The monitoring stations are primarily groundwater monitoring wells, where the HLF4 data logger is installed directly inside the monitoring pipe from a diameter of 2 inches.
A hydrostatic pressure sensor with a capacitive ceramic measuring cell is connected to the data logger via a robust suspension cable.
The sensor, manufactured entirely from stainless steel, combines high accuracy and long-term stability of the measuring cell with excellent resistance to mechanical damage.
These sensors determine the water level at the measurement point via hydrostatic water pressure.
The data loggers are equipped with state-of-the-art remote transmission modules, enabling data transfer via LTE-M and NB-IoT networks through a secure VPN tunnel directly to the web cloud.
The system is designed to be extremely user-friendly and can be easily configured and commissioned on site via Bluetooth using a free mobile app.
Thanks to the integrated eSIM cards, data transmission is possible throughout Europe with all network providers. No SIM cards or mobile contracts need to be supplied by the customer.
The power consumption of the complete sensor system and data logger has been optimized to such an extent that, in standard configuration, battery lifetimes typically exceed 10 years.
The ACS portal does not only store measurements but also allows users to change device parameters, display photos of measurement points, send alarms, show locations via Google Maps, etc.
As a result, the ACS portal is highly valued by users, as it provides an immediate overview of which monitoring points are in alarm status, completely offline, or simply require maintenance.

Benefits:

  • No external power supply required
  • Long battery life
  • Simple on-site operation via Bluetooth and free app
  • Complete solution from sensor to web cloud
  • Data protection concept according to latest guidelines; critical infrastructure
  • Constant access to measurements and parameters via Internet
  • Quick overview of all measurement points’ status
  • Multiple alarm options