SINGAPORE PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD USES AUTOMATED DRONE MONITORING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEILLANCE
Since 2021, with ST Engineering Skyports has been conducting daily beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone monitoring flights over Singapore's 17 water reservoirs, managed by the Public Utilities Board (PUB). Using automated drone-in-box technology and manual deployments, PUB has been able to gain critical ecological and safety insights, significantly faster, cheaper and more sustainably than manual patrols and inspections.
Location: Singapore
Industry: Government Services
Drone used: ST Engineering DroNet
Partner: ST Engineering
The challenge
Monitoring the health of Singapore’s reservoirs and ensuring a clean and consistent water supply
Singapore Public Utilities Board (PUB) is Singapore’s national water agency, and is responsible for ensuring a sustainable and efficient water supply in Singapore. A core part of its role is maintaining the country’s 17 water reservoirs.
Maintaining and monitoring the health of these reservoirs is critical to ensuring an ongoing safe and secure water supply to the city. This includes checking for excessive growth of aquatic plants and algal blooms, overall water quality, and ensuring the safety of users of the reservoir for recreational purposes.
However, this monitoring is highly labour intensive. Conducted manually by patrol boats, monitoring each reservoir takes on average 1,200 man hours a year, carrying with it significant costs.
The solution
Automated drone surveillance and monitoring
To help improve efficiency and productivity, PUB turned to ST Engineering and Skyports to implement automated drone surveillance and monitoring.
Flying BVLOS, the automated drones are remotely launched from “drone-in-a-box” installations, five times a week, twice a day, with the flights overseen by either a Skyports or ST Engineering remote pilot. Flying a pre-planned flight path around each reservoir, the drones are equipped with Electro-Optic and Hyperspectral imaging sensors, and are able to provide near real-time video analytics, enabling real-time information processing and AI-powered support on issues such as aquatic plant growth and overall water quality.
If there are any safety issues or security concerns such as illegal fishing, the drone pilot triggers alerts to PUB’s team so they can respond quickly and efficiently.
The result
Keeping Singapore’s water supply clean and consistent, at a fraction of the resource
By using automated drone monitoring Singapore Public Utilities Board has been able to gain instant insights on the health of its reservoirs, all whilst slashing the carbon footprint and costs of its inspection programme.
With the service, PUB estimates that it makes a 70% reduction in human inspection hours, with a 40% reduction in cost, allowing PUB to keep its reservoirs in optimal condition and channel more man power to more critical works, such as the inspection of maintenance of reservoir gates and pump and valve operations.
TESTIMONIAL
“With 17 reservoirs – which are an important water supply source for Singapore – under our care, it can be a challenge manpower-wise to effectively monitor what goes on at each reservoir and ensure the reservoirs are in optimal condition. The drones act as an early warning system that enhances our response time to the myriad of issues that our officers grapple with on a daily basis."
Mr Yeo Keng Soon
Director of PUB's Catchment and Waterways Department