Why Monitor a Water Tank Continuously?
A potable or industrial water reservoir is a critical facility: a level failure can lead to a disruption in supply, an overflow, or contamination. Without remote monitoring, detection relies on costly and infrequent manual inspections. Remote monitoring makes it possible to detect any deviations in real time, trigger automatic alerts, and take immediate action.
There are many issues at stake:
- Health and safety: A water level that is too low promotes stagnation and bacterial growth.
- Fire safety: A fire protection tank must always maintain at least the regulatory minimum level.
- Pump optimization: Avoiding dry running and overly frequent cycles extends the service life.
- Regulatory compliance: The ARS requires continuous recording of quality parameters for UDI.
Measured Parameters and Associated Sensors
| Parameter | Sensor Technology | Measurement Frequency | Typical Thresholds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Hydrostatic / ultrasonic | 1–15 min | < 20% → low alert |
| Pressure | 4–20 mA transmitter | 1–5 min | < 1 bar → alert |
| Residual Chlorine | In-line electrochemical | 5–15 min | < 0.1 mg/L or > 0.5 mg/L |
| pH | Glass electrode | 5–15 min | < 6.5 or > 9 |
| Turbidity | Nephelometric NTU | 5–30 min | > 1 NTU (drinking water) |
| Temperature | PT100 / PT1000 | 15 min | > 25 °C risk of Legionnaires’ disease |
All of these sensors transmit their signals (4–20 mA, RS-485 Modbus, or HART) to a DIN-rail IoT gateway located in the structure’s control cabinet.
Architecture of a Reservoir Monitoring Solution
The solution is structured around three layers:
- Field layer — ACS-certified sensors, motorized valves, pumps with status feedback.
- Communication layer — 4G/LTE gateway with multi-carrier SIM, encrypted outbound VPN.
- Application layer — cloud platform with real-time dashboards, historical data, ARS reports, and alert management.
Remote access to valve remote management requires two-factor authentication, and every action is logged for regulatory traceability.
Alerts and On-Call Management
A good alert system is based on several levels of severity:
- Pre-alarm (low level, chlorine slightly out of range): email notification to the operator.
- Alarm (critical level, no chlorine, pressure drop): simultaneous text message to the on-call staff + automatic creation of a support ticket.
- Technical alert (gateway communication loss, power outage): separate notification to distinguish between a field failure and a network failure.
The confirmation time, time slots, and escalation rules are fully customizable.
Commissioning and Integration into an Existing System
Eziwan monitoring integrates with existing systems in several ways:
- Existing 4-20 mA sensors: Direct connection to the gateway’s analog inputs.
- Existing PLC: Reading Modbus TCP/RTU registers without modifying the PLC logic.
- Existing SCADA system: MQTT or REST API export to push data to a third-party monitoring system.
- Water metering: hourly or daily CSV export for production and network loss reporting.
Full commissioning—including sensor installation, configuration, alert testing, and training—is completed on-site in 1 to 2 days.