Partnering Jalur Cahaya Sdn Bhd (JCSB)

NRW Contract for the Ministry of Energy (KETTHA) on Labuan Island, Malaysia

JCSB carried out an NRW contract for the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KETTHA) on Labuan Island in Malaysia (85,000 population).  This is a reference contract funded by the government, to set a standard approach for Malaysia.  The contract commenced in 2009 for completion early 2011.  Crowder partnered JCSB in the contract, the scope of the work included: 

• Re-establishing of the District Metered Areas (DMAs) for the whole island
• Upgrading the GIS system involving surveys and geo-coding
• Implementing the Netbase Water Distribution Management System integrated with telemetry, GIS, billing and hydraulic modelling
• Building and calibrating models for the whole island
• Reducing NRW to 20% or lower by detection and repair 

Crowder’s role was as specialist Consultants and to implement Netbase.  We initially mapped and loaded the GIS, billing and telemetry data into the Netbase database.  We then configured the network of DMAs, meters, monitoring points, monitored customers and telemetry signals incrementally as they were established by JCSB.  The improvements to the GIS and telemetry data were systematically updated in Netbase and feedback was given to JCSB on data quality and referencing issues for resolution.  Crowder hosted the Netbase system during this process for approximately one year then it was transferred onto the Labuan servers infrastructure.  The equipment was specified by ourselves and installed by JCSB with our assistance. 

Crowder built and calibrated all mains hydraulic models from the data in the Netbase database using the Netbase Hydraulic Model Manager application (HM Manager).  EPAnet is fully integrated into HM Manager as a modelling engine and Labuan opted to use this rather than export to another modelling system from Netbase, such as Water Gems or AQUIS. 

In the early part of the contract Crowder established the fieldwork requirements for the model calibration and the requirements for the characteristics and attributes of the controls (tanks, pumps, devices, boundary items).  The requirements were set out in detailed spreadsheets and plans and JCSB incorporated them into their programme of work.  Shortage in water supplies on Labuan Island affected the programme of fieldwork and it had to be carried out in phases.  The calibration of the model followed the revised programme.  

Crowder set up reports in Netbase for JCSB and Labuan to use and provided technical support and training in NRW, Netbase applications, hydraulic modelling and managing the data updates of the database.