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Lesedauer: Berechne...
In Germany, the water sector counts as critical infrastructure which, should it fail or be compromised, would give rise to longterm supply shortages and massive public disturbances. Beyond that, the scarcety of drinking water resources projected for the future calls for a new mindset and a more responsible handling of our most precious food, water.
The EU Drinking Water Directive (TW-RL) as amended in January 2021 has resulted in comprehensive modifications, which were also introduced into the Drinking Water Catchment Areas Ordinance (TrinkEGV, 12/2023) via the amendment to the Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV, 06/2023) and Water Resources Act (WHG) on a national level. The first-time introduction of a mandatory risk assessment for the entire supply chain from catchment area to consumer in particular gives rise to new challenges.
Henceforth, water utility companies will be required to identify potential risks and hazard occurences related to water supply from early on and to be able to deal with them adequately. The new requirements are based on risk assessment and have come to increasingly focus on prevention.
Innovative plastic pipes with additional functionality provide solutions which for example help planning offices to implement an “intelligent water network“ with the help of certain products and measuring systems. This kind of water network enables companies in the water sector to respond to the specific provisions in the ordinances (shortened excerpts from the TrinkwV):
Safety
Risk management is to be performed at least based on the recognised rules of sound engineering (DIN EN 15975-2) and have to take risks for the water supply systems with regard to the quality of the drinking water into account which might be the result of climate change, water losses and leaking drinking water pipes.
Prevention
Identify hazards and hazard occurrences related to water supply facilities and drawing up an assessment of the resulting risks for the quality of the drinking water.
Documentation and data management
New documentation and information duties for the operators. New requirements for inspection obligations and the inspection plan. Among other things, the TrinkwV governs the time intervals and scope of the drinking water analyses. egeplast offers products helping to meet all requirements of this nature. In the context of the amendments to the TrinkwV and TrinkEGV, some pipe versions which have already stood the test as “problem solvers“ for specific applications can also serve to document the stipulated risk management approach (hazard prevention), e.g. via permanent leakage monitoring and to comprehensively increase the resilience of the infrastructure.
egeplast
SLM® DCS
| Regular check of integrity of critical infrastructures |
| Pipe detection |
| Manual damage detection |
| Permanent resp. discontinuous monitoring |
| SMS Signal |
| Permanent monitoring to protect drinking water |
| Diffusion barrier |
| Pipe detection |
| Permanent damage monitoring |
| SMS Signal |
| Connection to existing control centers |
| Remote maintenance for monitoring |
| Damage localisation |
Dr.-Ing. Michael Stranz
Head of Development & Innovation Management, egeplast international GmbH
E-Mail: michael.stranz@egeplast.de
Tel.: +49 2575 9710 273
