Rotork electric valve actuators have been installed throughout a new water treatment plant designed to meet increased user demand with improved filtration efficiency. Ardleigh Reservoir in Essex, UK, serves a large part of the Tendring Peninsular for Tendring Hundred Water Services and part of the town of Colchester for the Anglian Water Group. Modernisation and expansion of the treatment works has included the construction of a new rapid gravity sand filtration plant and the conversion of the existing multi-media filtration plant to granulated activated carbon (GAC) contactors for improved taste and odour treatment. On completion, the enlarged plant’s designed treatment capacity will increase by more than 30% to 40 megalitres per day. Flow through the new plant is controlled by over 90 Rotork IQ and AQ electric valve actuators, mainly operating Erhard butterfly valves. A new stand-alone Allen Bradley distributed control system (DCS) has been installed on site to automatically supervise the actuators and other plant equipment over an Ethernet link, utilising an InTouch SCADA software programme designed by the main contractor.
