Spis treści
About the client
The Municipal Water and Sewerage Company in Wrocław (Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów i Kanalizacji S.A. we Wrocławiu, MPWiK Wrocław) is one of the five largest utilities of its kind in Poland.
It harmoniously combines centuries-old tradition with development based on technology and innovation.
MPWiK actively monitors its carbon footprint and runs projects aimed at reducing its environmental impact.
As a responsible business, it collaborates with international environmental research centres and promotes education through the HYDROPOLIS Water Knowledge Centre.
Business Challenge
MPWiK serves nearly one million residents and businesses. The scale and complexity of the city’s water infrastructure require effective network monitoring and management.
In 2014, water losses in Wrocław reached 24%, which conflicted with the city’s sustainable development goals and ecological approach to resource management.
In addition, diagnosing water losses relied on manual analysis of night flows and reports created without reference to historical data. This form of work carried the risk of overlooking anomalies that could indicate leakage or illegal consumption.
To address this, MPWiK needed a solution that would integrate dispersed data sources, automate analysis, and enable faster response to irregularities, while meeting high scalability and technological standards.
SmartFlow implementation in Wrocław
The project combined MPWiK’s sector knowledge, our consulting and IT engineering experience, and Microsoft’s support. The result was SmartFlow – a tailored platform addressing the real needs of water utilities.
The pilot rollout in Wrocław was divided into several stages:
Understanding the city’s and the utility’s needs
During training sessions, MPWiK experts shared insights into the network’s operations. We used this knowledge to design a solution that supports daily diagnostics.
Microsoft experts provided technical guidance on Azure, the foundation for the monitoring system.MPWiK infrastructure audit
We analysed the company’s IT systems, water infrastructure, and business processes.
One of the areas where MPWiK could benefit most from the implementation of the platform was the analysis of minimum night flows. Until then it had been performed manually, with no reference to historical data. Automating this process allowed for even faster identification of irregularities and potential failures.Pilot implementation of SmartFlow
We developed a customised SmartFlow platform based on flow meter data, main water meters, and geolocation information from GIS. This integration of various data sources allowed MPWiK to move from fragmented datasets to a single, centralised analytical tool.
The application enables easy and clear monitoring of the network’s parameters. The notification and alert system notifies dispatchers about irregularities in specific DMA zones and measuring points. This allows for quicker and more accurate responses to potential leaks or unauthorised water usage.
Our collaboration in numbers
80%
of the city covered by the system
70
flow meters installed
10-minute
reading intervals
10,080
flow meter readings per day
Diagnosis method we used
The city area was divided into DMA zones (District Metered Areas) – individually monitored sections of the network, equipped with radio devices for data transmission.
Each DMA zone was balanced using the IWA (International Water Association) methodology, based on data from flow and water meters.
The system analyses nine parameters from sensors:
- pressure
- forward and reverse meter status
- forward and reverse flow rate
- forward and reverse flow speed
- temperature
- battery voltage
Results of the collaboration
Main benefits of our partnership
- Faster response to irregularities
- Tangible reduction in water losses
- Smart and environmentally friendly resource management
- Easier and faster data analysis
- Improved water network management