Mobility. Underpasses, municipality entrusts management and maintenance to MM
A remote control system for ever greater security
Milan, 28 April 2021 – The Municipality of Milan entrusts the management, maintenance and cleaning of water in the 29 vehicular and cycle-pedestrian underpasses as well as the related pumping stations and water collection tanks present in the city to MM Servizi Idrici Integrati for the next four years.
This completes the assignment to MM of the entire urban drainage network which also includes waste water, purification, the water network (ditches and canals), the system for collecting and disposing of rainwater in the streets with also the drains, to have greater control of the entire system, more timely emergency response and greater efficiency and safety for citizens.
“The torrential and discontinuous rains are a clear reality and we must adapt the management system of these waters in the city – declares Marco Granelli, councilor for public works -. We have studied in depth, experimented over the last year and now decided to have a single integrated system, active '24 hours a day' and internalized in a company of the Municipality of Milan which already manages the water issue and the Seveso system. From the experimentation we have already acquired positive changes, now the overall and strategic choice that will allow us to give greater safety to citizens and address the issue of torrential rains more effectively".
“With this activity – declares Stefano Cetti, General Director of MM – entrusted to us by the Municipality, MM's role as manager of plants and infrastructures connected to Milan's water is further expanded, adding a new fundamental piece. Managing the effects of climate change requires the implementation of skills and professionalism that our Company has long refined, developing the use of innovative technologies that guarantee real-time monitoring, emergency response and predictive maintenance of the equipment installed in the underpasses: advanced technology and many years of experience of our resources to guarantee the proper functioning of these infrastructures and the safety of citizens".
The rainfall trend in recent years has changed greatly, the rainfall often has a stormy, violent, sudden nature, with very heavy falls of water concentrated in short periods, and this constitutes a great 'stress test' for the 140 thousand system road drains, already managed by MM, and for the 29 lifting stations of the road underpass.
An innovative approach is therefore necessary to guarantee citizens safe access to these facilities.
For example, in 2020, 69 days of rain were recorded in Milan with an accumulated annual total of around 950 mm (a figure in line with previous years). But the rainfall trend was discontinuous, characterized by months (such as January, February, April and November) during which very little rainfall was recorded and months (among which May, June and July stand out) that were much rainier than normal.
The rainiest month was May which recorded around 174 mm of rain, of which over 90 mm fell between the evening of the 14th and the morning of the 15th, resulting in a storm that created flooding and inconvenience throughout the city of Milan. The wettest day of the year was July 24th with around 64 mm of rain, also characterized by a storm with consequent repercussions on road traffic.
MM will guarantee a real-time monitoring network of the sewer network and the aquifer as well as the Geographic Information System which already collects all the water service networks and the minor water network.
In 2020 MM experimentally monitored, with already evident results, a first batch of pumping stations, including the underpasses of via Rubicone and via Astesani, as well as for the management of the Seveso, and implemented interventions on the collection network in via Fulvio Texts and via Feltre. A remote control system with cameras and sensors has been implemented, active 24 hours a day, which allows permanent monitoring of the systems to guarantee timely activation of the operational teams in the event of a fault as well as to support the Municipal Civil Protection in the event of adverse weather conditions.
The remote control system will be extended to all underpasses and allows remote and real-time monitoring of the electrical parameters of the pumps (current intensity, voltage, power, intervention of protections, blackouts, failed starts), the recording of level trends in the tank and relative percentage of useful volume in the tanks.
MM organically centralizes the control, operation and continuous maintenance of all the systems that regulate the activity of the underpasses, the electromechanical, electrical and hydraulic equipment; checking the cleanliness of the tank and the functionality of the pumps, the cleaning and purging for each pumping station and, finally, the management of weather alerts 24 hours a day. It will coordinate with the Local Police and Civil Protection for any interventions emergencies due to breakdowns or malfunctions of the pumping stations.
Updated: 02/05/2021