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Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) Water Resources Department (WRD) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, has adopted a systems approach to operations similar to that of an electric utility. That is, strategic operational planning and scheduling of raw water production, water transmission, treatment, distribution--wastewater collection and treatment and non-potable distribution is performed in a manner similar to planning fuel supply, generation, transmission, and distribution operations in the electric utility. CSU's Electric Department has over 30 years of experience in structured system operations planning that yields high reliability at the lowest possible cost for electric customers. WRD is adopting a similar operating approach for the water utility. Electric utilities have operations planning groups, utilizing technology and technical staffs that carefully plan optimized operations from a two-second to annual basis. Operations planning groups are required to support systems control room dispatchers and operators because of the complexity of electric system operations. Similarly, the focal point for coordinated water utility operations at CSU is an Operations Planner and Scheduler (OP/S). An OP/S may be a single person or a group of individuals with supporting software. In either case, the OP/S's mission is to develop an optimum daily operating plan. The daily operating plan contains the operating schedule for the water and wastewater systems. The schedule shows which pumps must run, how PRV's and flow control valves are set, how much surface water is needed, etc., for each time period in the day. The plan is used to align and coordinate water and wastewater system operations and maintenance. The daily plan ensures that the water system meets the customers' demand for water while complying with water quality requirements, controlling energy cost and maximizing hydroelectric generation utilization. The potential annual benefit of optimizing utility operations at CSUis an estimated $550,000. The OP/S is at the center of CSU's Energy and Water Quality Management System (EWQMS) model. The generic EWQMS model was previously developed in an AWWA Research Foundation (AWWARF) project, and was modified by CSU to reflect operations. CSU is developing the software and operating structure to enable the EWQMS.This paper presents CSU's experience in developing the operational structure to support the OP/S concept, and the associated information technologies to develop optimized operating plans from an energy and water quality perspective. The paper will be useful to any water utility developing operating strategies to manage energy in a deregulated energy market and/or improving water quality from source to tap. Includes 3 references, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/01/2001 Number of Pages: 13File Size: 1 file , 380 KB