Catalan River Basin District IWRMS

Maintenance and technical support services.

Challenge

The SICAT system pertains to the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) and integrates several automatic monitoring networks, providing an extra wealth of data and tools to facilitate the integrated management of Catalonia’s water resources.

The Agency’s decision-making processes rely on the availability, quality, reliability and timeliness of hydrological data and information. SICAT delivers this fundamental data, assisting ACA in the forecasting and management of extreme events such as floods and droughts, plus safe and efficient operation of reservoirs.

SICAT consists of more than 150 control points or stations that improve the knowledge of the surface and underground water resources in Catalonia's River Basin District. It does this through the automatic and continuous measurement of water quality parameters and hydrological variables. These include the level, volume and output flow of reservoirs, the level and flow of water in rivers and canals, and the levels of aquifers.

ADASA’s Solution

ADASA corrected malfunctions detected by SICAT control points through preventive and corrective maintenance actions. Work to conserve infrastructures and river environments also took place, from cleaning to implementing procedures for the prevention of occupational hazards at work. Measuring equipment was checked and calibrated, too.

ADASA's technical assistance included supervising system operations during ordinary and extraordinary conditions, then processing and validating the information and acquired hydrological data.

Finally, our collaboration with ACA included reviewing the constant evolutions of the SICAT's systems technological capabilities, from expansion to adaptation to new information requests and requirements. This work has covered consultancy, engineering, construction and automation of new measurement points, as well as the integration of new technologies, sensors and recording equipment.

Result

ACA’s integrated hydrological and water quality monitoring system (SICAT) is one of the most innovative around. It has been adapted to monitor current water uses and the management of risk situations. The optimised system shares information with relevant agencies such as Civil Protection, municipalities, water operators and irrigation communities.

The SICAT system improves the quality and reliability of hydrological data it provides, assists in the prevention of occupational hazards for workers, betters environmental conditions and helps reduce maintenance costs of water basins.

Client

The Catalan Water Agency (ACA) is the Catalan government’s public agency responsible for planning and managing water, compliant with the basic principles of the European Union's Water Framework Directive.

Created in 2000, ACA works to advance its plan to guarantee present and future supply and availability of quality water — ground and surface — at source. ACA’s action plan also promotes the treatment of wastewater through more than 500 treatment plants in service, protecting and conserving water bodies and their associated ecosystems.