Martijn Bakker e.a. in AWW: Intelligent control water supply system Groningen

Drinking Water Company Groningen supplies fresh and reliable drinking water to more than 570,000 people in the Northern part of the Netherlands. In order to increase the cost effectiveness of operation, the water company decided to implement the automatic production and distribution control system called OPIR®. The system is designed to maintain stable production and distribution flows without human intervention, except for optimization adjustments.

The OPIR® model is based on a forecast of water demand for the next 48 hours. OPIR® was developed by DHV in cooperation with a number of water companies in the Netherlands.

Water supply to the province of Groningen consists of six water treatment plants and six distribution reservoirs. The water treatment plants produce drinking water and the distribution reservoirs level off fluctuations in the water demand by filling during low demand (night) and distributing during high demand (morning and evening peak).