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UK flow monitoring specialist Detectronic has contributed equipment and expertise to two comprehensive winter hydrological surveys in Kuwait. The country is prone to short severe winter storms which, allied to extensive urbanisation, have resulted in flooding in Kuwait City and its suburbs.
The Kuwait Government commissioned the multi-disciplinary Australian consultants Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) to develop the master plan for the upgrading of the stormwater drainage system. Charlie Reed, project manager for SMEC on the Kuwait Stormwater Drainage Master Plan explained, “We approached several companies of which only Detectronic fully understood the implications of two short, but separated, survey periods and were able to work with us to provide the equipment and essential back up.”
A total of 30 data logging flow monitors and 18 rain gauges, complete with data loggers and spare parts, were supplied. These instruments were all calibrated and serviced in the UK workshop before being air freighted to Kuwait. Detectronic handled shipping and all export documentation to Kuwait where SMEC handled inbound customs clearance. This process worked efficiently, enabling SMEC to commence the survey promptly. At the end of the survey, the process was reversed and the equipment returned to the UK for use on other hire contracts, before preparation and shipping once more for the following winter season.
Detectronic (detectronic.org) is a company dedicated to providing accurate and robust flow monitoring products and services to support the global water industry. In addition to the production of advanced flow monitoring equipment the company also has a major hire division and workshop facilities to maintain this equipment in peak condition. SMEC therefore turned to the company for the supply of the monitoring equipment package and for technical back-up on the equipment during the survey periods.
Based on their experience with the equipment and the support provided by Detectronic, Charlie Reed recommended the use of Detectronic as a company to supply flow monitoring equipment to SMEC colleagues engaged in other contracts worldwide.
More Information
Steve Woods, Managing Director, Detectronic Ltd
T: +44 01282 449 124 E: sales[.]detectronic.org
Detectronic Ltd, 1 Turner Road, Lomeshaye Industrial Estate, Nelson, Lancashire, BB9 7DR
About Detectronic
First established in the 1970’s, Detectronic originally developed a range of ultrasonic depth and Doppler velocity measuring systems for the nautical leisure industry. During the early 1980’s this technology was further developed in conjunction with the UK Water Research Centre to create a flow survey monitor, the Surveylogger. This unit became an industry standard and is still in use by flow survey companies throughout the world. It provides accurate measurement of volumetric flow in any regular shaped channel. Using a pressure sensor to measure depth it computes flow area and by use of a Doppler sensor it measures mean velocity allowing volumetric flow to be calculated. This data is downloaded periodically to a field computer before transfer to a desktop PC where data from several loggers monitoring a network can be collated to generate a computer model of how storm surges pass through a drainage network.
In 1991 the original Detectronic company was absorbed into a larger organisation, which gave up the Detectronic name. By the turn of the century, production of the Surveylogger had ceased. Then, in 2007, in response to an identified need in the marketplace, four core members of the original Detectronic team, with an accumulated 100 years experience in the industry, came together to create a new Detectronic company. This brings to the table the same determination to provide high quality products and services to meet the needs of the water industry.
In addition to producing a new advanced flow survey instrument, the Multi Sensor Flow Monitor (MSFM), Detectronic also offers equipment hire, the repair and recalibration of all makes of flow survey equipment – to IEC Ex certified standards – together with in house and on site training. Detectronic also provides consultancy services and flow surveys for industrial water users and effluent producers.
Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC)
The Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation was forged from Australia’s biggest ever civil engineering project the Snowy Mountains Scheme. This 25 year project was a combined hydropower and irrigation initiative. Waters from the Snowy River, which would otherwise flow direct to the ocean, are dammed and transferred by deep bored mountain tunnels to irrigate interior land.
SMEC was created by the Australian government in 1970 to consolidate the engineering and management skills gained. The company became a public corporation in 1989 and was privatised in 1993. There are now SMEC offices around the world and the company is involved in a range of infrastructure, energy, environment and sustainability projects.
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sales[.]detectronic.org 
