The Provincial Council of Salamanca is responsible for managing the integral water cycle within the province, which is divided into 5 management units. The lines of action developed within each unit include:
- Drinking water quality control service.
- Sewer and wastewater treatment cleaning service.
- Water supply service with tankers.
- Drought plan.
- Riverbed cleaning plan.
- Management of water supply and wastewater treatment systems.
- Technical assistance to municipalities in water-related matters.
In addition to the aforementioned functions, the Provincial Council of Salamanca is responsible for monitoring the flow rates in water supply and sanitation networks, both for pressurized pipes and for open channels and collectors where water flows under free surface flow conditions.
In order to improve the measurement of these flow rates, the Provincial Council has collaborated with Arantec Engineering to supply, install, calibrate, and commission 5 flow meters with real-time remote control data transmission at the discharge points of the “Las Villas” Integrated System.
The system consists of 2 non-intrusive flow meters installed on pressurized pipes and 3 level and velocity meters in collectors, with 3G communication, dataloggers, and electrical or solar power supply. They are described as follows:
Pipe flow meters: 2 SP-200 non-intrusive clamp-on flow meters have been installed on two 100 mm steel pipes, one near the Wastewater Pumping Station of Huerta and the other in Babilafuente.
Level sensors SPWS61 and velocity sensors SPR300W of radar typology are installed in collectors located in Babilafuente, Villoria, and Villoruela.
With this system and through the web application, the Provincial Council of Salamanca can monitor the flow rates flowing through the pipes and collectors at any time, as shown in the following graphs.
With the implementation of the Integrated System, both the Provincial Council and the users of the Las Villas wastewater treatment plant benefit from a better resource management, resulting in water savings and cost savings for the municipalities.
