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Reliable water supply for the Ruhr area

Wasserwerke Westfalen is planning the next step toward efficient and sustainable water supply with SIMATIC PCS 7, PCS neo, simulation and 5G.

Why a modern control system for Wasserwerke Westfalen?

Across a total of six waterworks, Wasserwerke Westfalen – the largest drinking water producer in western Germany – supplies drinking water to around 1.5 million people. In addition, the company generates renewable energy at five run-of-river power plants and manages the operation of numerous elevated tanks, booster stations and other facilities. This vast infrastructure is monitored by our unified and easy-to-operate process control system . All plants and stations are controlled and monitored from a central control room. "This gives us an absolutely stable and reliable solution, allowing us to fully focus on new projects," explains Achim Koslowski, Head of Control Technology at Wasserwerke Westfalen GmbH.

Three reasons for smarter water management

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Efficient maintenance and modernization

Centralized engineering saves travel time, enabling Wasserwerke Westfalen to effectively manage extensive modernization measures as well as numerous components and plants with a comparatively small team of project engineers.

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Virtual waterworks shorten commissioning

Thanks to a "virtual waterworks" based on SIMIT and the SIMIT Solution Water Library, Wasserwerke Westfalen can reduce the commissioning of new treatment plants from several months to just a few weeks.

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Future-proof technologies

The control technology is prepared for new technologies such as virtualization, simulation, cloud-based automation, and 5G slicing, enabling Wasserwerke Westfalen to make their plants future-ready.

One system, one look and feel – everywhere

A unified operating philosophy is particularly important to Achim Koslowski. This philosophy means that the operator interface is structured identically across all hierarchy levels and at all locations. The foundation for this is our standard library for implementing automation and process control tasks. Using this library, Wasserwerke Westfalen maps the complex plant structure – with its wide range of technologies and operating hierarchies – within the control system. The standard library enables the utility to implement many functions easily using uniform, pre-tested modules, without extensive programming effort. As a result, Wasserwerke Westfalen has largely standardized functions and notifications, ensuring that the process control system always has the same look and feel.

Wasserwerke Westfalen standard library
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A virtual waterworks built for testing

The water utility is currently realizing numerous additional projects powered by our technology. One key focus is a "virtual waterworks" based on SIMIT and the SIMIT Solution Water Library. For this project, Wasserwerke Westfalen and we developed specialized SIMIT library components for water treatment, among other things. Modeled on two real water treatment facilities, a treatment plant was replicated in SIMIT. The individual simulation functions for pumps, filters and basins were created as templates and connected via a "piping diagram," allowing process and plant variants to be easily configured and tested within the model.

Simulate first, commission with confidence

By simulating plants with SIMIT, Wasserwerke Westfalen can integrate new technologies into plant operations more quickly and is also placing operator training and professional development on a modern, digital footing. The virtual waterworks realistically reproduces the look and feel of the physical plant. This has enabled Wasserwerke Westfalen to reduce the commissioning of new treatment plants from several months to just a few weeks. Modifications and service measures can be thoroughly tested in advance, ensuring they are implemented safely and without production interruptions. Critical plant conditions and their effects can be examined on the model without stressing or endangering technical equipment. And last but not least, new employees are quickly and safely trained on the digital twin system before working on sensitive production plants.

Modernizing the foundation, step by step

At the same time, Wasserwerke Westfalen continuously invests in its systems to increase automation availability and automate additional processes. The utility is currently modernizing its peripherals with SIMATIC ET 200SP HA systems. This system is particularly compact and suitable for use even under extreme conditions, making it especially well-suited for outdoor installations or distributed stations. The current system generation not only delivers higher availability, robustness, and scalability – it also allows Wasserwerke Westfalen to gradually build a future-proof foundation for the transition to the web-based process control system PCS neo in a few years' time.

We are already preparing for new technologies. For example, we are evaluating how we can benefit from the HTML5-based control system SIMATIC PCS neo – for instance, through a leaner architecture.
Bernd Heinz, Managing Director, Wasserwerke Westfalen GmbH

Ready for 5G, PCS neo and what comes next

The utility is also testing a new connectivity solution for tailored 5G mobile networks, developed jointly with Telefónica and our team. 5G Slice for the water industry is intended to enable the monitoring and control of the entire automation technology via a virtual 5G network based on 5G network slicing technology. The goal is to achieve a seamless solution for data communication all the way down to the field level, as Heinz explains: "We are currently tackling this topic with Siemens and I am confident that we will achieve excellent results."