The road to operational excellence
Southern Water is committed to reducing pollution incidents and improving infrastructure resilience. As part of this effort, SAM4 was deployed across 637 critical pumps in a phased program aiming to install the technology on 750 assets—250 in the first wave and 500 in the second. The system successfully detected three potential failures, preventing pollution incidents and resulting in cost savings of £748,000*.
The first detection – Cavitation
An alert was raised after detecting cavitation and potential clogging. Corrective maintenance was carried out, during which the team discovered that Pump 1 needed assistance from Pump 2 during each run and that Pump 3 had failed. After completing the necessary maintenance, all pumps returned to normal operation.
The second detection – Airlock
After detecting a double airlock on Vicarage Road, SAM4 triggered an alert. The Ops team attended the site and found that Pumps 1 and 3 were running but not pumping down. Pump 2 had also tripped, despite being shown as “normal” in their system. The team reset Pump 2, and the airlocks on Pumps 1 and 3 cleared on their own. Once operations returned to normal, the traffic light indicator switched back to green.
The third detection – Airlock
After detecting an airlock on Lydd Road and completing maintenance, a second airlock formed soon after. SAM4 triggered another alert, and the team successfully restored the pump to normal operation.
Program evaluation
Across three separate detections, Samotics successfully identified early signs of failure— including airlocks, cavitation, and pump seizure—enabling the operations team to respond quickly. These interventions prevented potential pollution incidents and unplanned downtime. All affected pumps were restored to normal operation after corrective maintenance. The early warnings provided by Samotics improved asset reliability, ensured operational continuity, and led to an estimated cost saving of £748,000*
*Financial costs being estimated are based on a worst-case scenario, assuming that a pollution did actually happen.
“Samotics offers us an innovative perspective on our assets, unveiling insights into previously hidden situations. This newfound visibility empowers us to make informed, proactive decisions that significantly improve our maintenance efficiency, ensuring we have the right personnel in the right locations at the right time for a successful first-time fix.”
Austin Phillips,
Operational Capex Implementation Manager,
Southern Water
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