In a Township like Tiny, Ontario, where environmental stewardship and protection of its natural environment are part of its guiding principles, it's no wonder why measuring and monitoring the depths of the well water levels that bring water to the township's drinking water facility is so important.
To help automate the monitoring process, the township chose KPSI 735 transducers. The transducers feature an optional lightening protection guarantee. In addition, a second external lightening protector is located in the junction box at the top of the well.
Home to the Tiny Marsh Provincial Wildlife area, Ontario's first provincially owned and managed wetland, the Township offers visitors year-round use of 600 hectares of marsh and 300 hectares of field and forest. Tiny, located in the Southern Georgian Bay area of Ontario, Canada, has a population of 10,784 that increases to approximately 17,000 in the summer months. The region is an environmentally focused community that strives to provide a healthy lifestyle to its residents, both permanent and seasonal.
Servicing the majority of the community with municipal water, the township has 19 municipal water systems, three of which are physically connected and in the process of being operated as one system. The systems are supplied by 45 drilled wells and 25 pump stations where raw water is treated with chlorine and/or ultraviolet light then pumped into the distribution systems.
Over the past six years, the Township of Tiny has been using submersible level transducers to measure and monitor the water levels of its wells to meet the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), an Ontario-based environmental protection agency.
"The MOE requires us to regularly monitor our wells' well static and pumping levels. The transducers installed in our wells aid us in these tasks by providing extremely reliable and accurate information needed both for compliance and assessment of the wells' performance," said David Randall, superintendant for the Township of Tiny.
"Prior to placing transducers in the wells, we took manual well readings. This type of monitoring proved to be time consuming, costly and inaccurate. Well crock access points would often break while being accessed due to freezing temperatures during the winter months, and data collected during manual readings was not always a good representation of true static or pumping level, since well levels could be in the process of lowering or recovering when the manual reading was taken."
The KPSI 735 transducers selected for the project provide a static accuracy of 0.05% FS total error band (TEB), combined with welded 316 stainless steel or titanium construction. They are designed for use in harsh settings and prolonged exposure to caustic environments encountered in the municipal water industry.
Analog output options of 4-20 mA and 0-5 vDC provide flexibility for specific liquid level measurement and control situations.
Reliability and product longevity are key in this industry, where many of the wells are difficult to access, making it hard to maintain them on a regular basis. Each transducer includes a SuperDry Vent Filter that prevents moisture from entering the vent tube for at least one year without maintenance, even in the most humid environments.
"We've been using these transducers for six years now. There is peace of mind knowing that once they are in the wells, they have proven to be virtually maintenance-free and highly reliable in collecting the data we need," said Randall. WW
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