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The benefits of integrated ICT-systems in a
disaster situation
Patrick Vercruyssen
Customer relations director, Pidpa Geospatialworld conference
Amsterdam , april 2012.
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Before we start , 2 questions :
• Do you have a large scale disaster plan in your company ? ( not an ICT disaster plan, but a customer focused plan ..)
• Has your company ever used it in a real life situation ? ( with large amounts of customers involved ..)
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Pidpa: the company
Available ICT systems.
The morning of 6 december 2010.
From normal mode to disaster mode.
Lessons learned
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Pidpa: an introduction
• Active in two areas
– Drinking water: 500.000 customers households & industry in 65 municipalities (1,2 milj. People)
– Wastewater: Pidpa is active in 29 municipalities, mainly with the transport of wastewater using the sewerage - system
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Pidpa: the company
• Main Figures drinking water
– Service area : 2.581 km² ( 973 sq.mile)
– 65 municipalities connected
– Water mains : > 12.000 km ( 7460 miles)
– Water Production Centers : 12
– Water Towers : 61
– Pumping stations : 27
– Yearly production : 67 million m³
– Employees: > 700 people
– Turnover : 180 million EUR
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Pidpa: the company
Available ICT systems.
The morning of 6 december 2010.
From normal mode to disaster mode.
Lessons learned
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Available ICT systems (1)
OD(HR,ICT,…)
ArcView Ad-hoc
Labo
ArcView Ad-hoc
PRD(Milieu)
ArcView Ad-hoc
DIS
GeoLink Distributie
ArcInfo/ArcFM
ArcView Ad-hoc
HIDRORIO
GeoLink Hidronet
Infonet / Infoworks
ArcInfo/ArcFM
ArcView Ad-hoc
KR
ArcView Ad-hoc
GeoLink Distributie
GeoLink Hidrorio
ICT GIS
GIS-Applications
GeoDatabase
SAP used for:
- 2002: HR/FIN/LOG
- 2007: ISU & CRM & BW & MI & MAM
- SAP Portal for internal use.
Adm. data
SAP ERPSAP ISU/CRMLIMSSCADADMArchieven...
Strong integration between spatial (Esri based)
and non-spatial systems (SAP based).
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Available ICT-systems (3)
• GIS features :
• Calamity point, several subtypes
• (breach, corrosion, water quality…)
• SAP features :
• SAP PM maintenance order
• Common identifier :
• SAP workorder ID
GIS SAP maintenance orders linked to calamity point
Selection of calamity points
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Available ICT-systems (4)
• SCADA = Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition realtime management & monitoring in
“waterfactory” ( levels in watertowers, pumps, alarms .. );
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Available ICT-systems (6)
• In-house ICT department;
• Business applications also (!) available on thin client technology ( Citrix Metaframe );
• In-house contactcenter ( 30 people ) based on Genesys & Alcatel technology;
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Pidpa: the company
Available ICT systems.
The morning of 6 december 2010.
From normal mode to disaster mode.
Lessons learned
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The morning of 6 december 2010 (1).
o 5u34 : a fire in a warehouse filled with textile in Hemiksem is reported to the local fire department.
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Pidpa: the company
Available ICT systems.
The morning of 6 december 2010.
From normal mode to disaster mode.
Lessons learned
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From normal mode to disaster mode (1).
• Customer complaints brown drinking water • not unusual, residual sediments in the pipe
network often appear due to the higher flow rate during fire-fighting activities
• water samples analysed in water quality lab using Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).
• Quality control after or during a fire is not a standard procedure!
• Analysis results : massive numbers of E-coli (Escherichia Coli) and clostridium bacteria due to (fecal) contamination
• Symptoms : nausea, diarrhea, and fever (flu-like symptoms).
“disaster situation” declared for 2 municipalities Hemiksem and Schelle (+/- 18.000 inhabitants).
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From normal mode to disaster mode (2).
• Pidpa had a disasterplan, partly used for small scale incidents, not yet on a large scale : +/- 18.000 people + local industry
• Two emergeny-centers where established: – Operational disaster center : in the firehouse of Hemiksem,
occupied by firedepartment, Red-Cross, local disaster-official, 2 mayors + local Pidpa coördinators + spokesman + distribution point for drinking water coördinate urgent actions;
– Strategic disaster center : located in the Pidpa daily
operationscenter. Goal: strategic decision making on how to solve the situation, Pidpa had the lead coördinate important actions
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Results from CIN-action (CIN = Crisis information Network .
From normal mode to disaster mode (6).
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From normal mode to disaster mode (9).
• External experts helped Pidpa to find the real cause of the problem: where are the bacteria coming from?
• Intensive rinsing the water network with chlorine reduced the number of bacteria but source had to be found!
• From the start the fire works activities were a potential source, but no real proof …
• Interviewing the fire workers gave no clear indication on what happened
• with the help of photojournalists material together with external experts: reconstructing the events from December 6 in a timeline
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From normal mode to disaster mode (10).
• Conclusion: clear indications that the combined use of polluted river water and Pidpa-water from hydrants, handled through high-pressure pumps, was probably the cause.
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Pidpa: the company
Available ICT systems.
The morning of december 6th 2010.
From normal mode to disaster mode.
Lessons learned
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Lessons learned (1)
• Internal actions : a company wide call : feedback on the
way Pidpa handled the event. More than 200 useful
suggestions for improvement were made ! A 3 monthly
follow-up program was started in order to improve the
internal disaster plan.
• Huge benefit: in May 2011 a smaller scale E-coli incident
happened, 450 customers involved. The adapted and
improved disaster-plan was successfully deployed.
• External actions : contact the national fire-fighter
organisation avoid the same situation (Belgian Ministry of
Internal Affairs).
• Sharing our experience with other water-utilities on national
and international level
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Lessons learned (2)
• Main lesson learned : you are not alone in a disaster
situation, other organisations outside your company have
experience and are also involved from the start !!
• Maximize your knowledge on who they are and which role
they can play in a disaster situation!
• Collaboration and planning is a critical success factor.
• Continuous, accurate and transparant communication using
one (and only one !) spokesman
• Technical improvement : dynamic tracing in GIS to analyze
better/exactly the flow of the water limit the contaminated
area.
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Conclusion
1. The use of integrated (world-class) systems SAP
ERP & Esri GIS increased our efficiency and
operations in a remote site and reduced the time we
couldn’t serve our customers as they expected.
2. Be aware of the risk of using mixed water during
fire-fighting !
– The use of booster pumps can be a serious risk of
contamination of drinking water
– Inspection /evaluation of tap water hydrants
– Good communication between fire departement and water
company
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Contact
Pidpa: http://www.pidpa.be
Usefull links: see
http://www.pidpa.be/en/gis/gis.htm
Mobile: + 32 475 77 11 01
Office: + 32 3 216 88 15