Cases

For the past 1½ years, Grundfos has been testing a software product in Aarhus Vand's innovation environment, Water Living Lab. Hands-on experience has great value for Grundfos' own dialogue with customers, and Aarhus Vand has gained knowledge about intelligent software.

14 business partners have joined together in an EU project to create "Water Living Lab" - an interdisciplinary knowledge and innovation environment that provides the opportunity to develop, test and demonstrate water technology solutions that support a sustainable and resource-conscious supply.

The rector and a group of educators from Ghana Water Institute received instructions in pipe and leakage detection on Aarhus Vand's new leak detection field. They became more adept at using equipment which they can use to proactively search for leaks and thus reduce water loss.

HeyPipe™ is a new digital platform that across all supply types gives unique 3D documentation of the underground infrastructure. Aarhus Vand has founded the company in order to receive better and more valid data.

An important step towards a CO2 neutral water sector is to gain more knowledge about how we measure and reduce greenhouse gases. Supported by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, the ARES project, aims to uncover new knowledge about the two greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in sewer systems and at wastewater treatment plants.

Aarhus Vand has joined the Horizon Europe project, WATERUN, to improve the knowledge on stormwater quality in Aarhus and the cleansing effect of green infrastructures. With more than 10 years of experience in establishing and operating blue/green infrastructure, we look forward to becoming wiser on the cleansing effect of open storm water solutions.

A group of drinking water experts from Aarhus Vand performed pump tests of existing boreholes in the city of Tshwane in South Africa. Several of the boreholes showed high performance and they seem to have more capacity which could potentially reduce the city’s import of drinking water.

Aarhus Vand has established a leak detection field. Water operators can train and become educated in finding leaks in water pipes. The field also works as a test and demonstration of Danish water technology.

In 2019, together with Aarhus Municipality, we initiated a project to create improvements in the water area in the Ghanaian port city of Tema. The cooperation aims to ensure better handling of wastewater and reduction of water losses for the benefit of health and the environment.

In 2016, we entered into a Strategic Sector Cooperation with Aarhus Municipality and the city of Udaipur in India about development on the infrastructure of their water sector. The three Strategic Sector Cooperations have recently been renewed for four more years with a new grant of 56 million DKK.

In Denmark, we use approx. 100 liters of water per inhabitant per day – in South Africa the figure is 270 liters. Water loss is the explanation for the large water consumption. Since 2017, Aarhus has cooperated with the city of Tshwane in South Africa transferring knowledge on drinking water and wastewater management.

Poor wastewater management is causing both environmental damage and health risks for the people of South Africa. To help optimize the wastewater management, Aarhus Vand and Aarhus Municipality have joined forces with City of Tshwane in a Strategic Sector Cooperation for a more water resilient city.

Ghana Water has reduced their water loss by 8% in the city of Tema. Technology and knowledge of leak detection has been transferred from Aarhus Vand to Tema. The gains are that employees working with water in Tema are able to actively detect and repair leaks now.

Managing the sewage system in the city of Tema in Ghana previously relied on a plan on physical paper. Through the cooperation with Aarhus Vand a digitalized plan in the shape of an app has been developed enabling quick updates on data.

The new company Utilizero is a partnership between Aarhus Vand and DHI. It has been established to help utilities reduce carbon emissions and energy usage at wastewater treatment facilities from the solid experiences and solutions for automated process management, we have here in Denmark.

Aarhus Vand supplies drinking water of the best quality merely by filtering and aerating the water on its way to the citizens’ taps. However, we can only do this because we think ahead and always take the groundwater into consideration.

Increasing rainfall means that pipe capacity is too small in many places, with excess water – a hazardous mixture of wastewater and rainwater – flowing into lakes, streams or sea untreated. The excess water also causes flooding of cellars, roads and green areas. In other words, we lack space in our sewer system, and Aarhus Vand is doing something about this by seeing surface water as a valuable resource.

The United Nations expect that the world will use up to 40 percent more water in 2025 than in 2015. At Aarhus Vand we use asset management to reduce water loss.

At traditional wastewater treatment plants, the energy produced is nowhere near enough to cover the operation of the plant. In Aarhus it is. Marselisborg WWTP has an energy self-sufficient far above 100 percent and the plant is in fact a power station, a bio refinery where energy is produced from wastewater.

At Aarhus Vand we are very engaged in business creation and how to improve areas within the field of water supply. Therefore, we created the company DRYP together with MONTEM.