St James PRV supplies 1596 properties and had historically been operating with a fixed outlet of 70mhd.

Following a review of the available data and consultation with local operations a three stage approach was agreed and implemented (Figure 1).  This was combined with Aqualogics bespoke ‘Profile Simulator’ designed to enable the CP pressure profile to be modelled, visualized, fine tuned and run in a virtual environment before physical updates were undertaken.

Stage 1 – Initial reduction.  This was done to assess PRV condition and reaction as well as reducing the fixed outlet of the PRV to reduce the burden on the controller.

Stage 2  – Time profile.  The was undertaken to set the range adjustment for maximum and minimum pressures due to multiple CP’s and  to gather data ready for a full flow profile.

Stage 3 – Following analysis of the logged data and accommodating operations requests for the shape of the CP profile, the final stage was to write and implement a bespoke Flow profile.

This case study served as an excellent demonstration of the benefits of profile optimization.  The changes made contributed to a 36,000 Property Meter Head reduction in pressure resulting in:

• An immediate reduction in the nightline (4.7m³hr) and the daily demand (300m³d)
• An improved customer experience with 75% less pressure variation at the CP
• A long term benefit due to a 13% decrease in burst frequency