Nuremberg Zoo automates water treatment process

Festo helps zoo sets new standards for the care of sea mammals with new water treatment technology

A water treatment plant with state-of-the-art process automation technology is improving the living conditions of dolphins at Nuremberg Zoo.

Nuremberg Zoo's water treatment plant processes 2,000 cubic metres of fresh water every hour. To ensure that even in cold weather, temperatures in the outdoor pools never fall below 17°C, the water is pre-heated to 30°C. If outdoor air temperatures drop below –5°C, an air dome prevents the two pools from becoming too cold.

The lagoon water runs through six closed multi-layer filters, which are flushed out at regular intervals. To do this, the inlet and outlet are closed and the cleaning air and rinsing water are opened. The contamination exits the system through a sludge discharge and the water filters then work at full capacity again.


Ready-to-install control cabinets with valve terminals type CPX-VTSA, D-series service units and quarter turn actuators type DAPS

Quarter turn actuators (DAPS) from Festo operate the main butterfly valves. They are controlled using seven control cabinets supplied completely ready-to-install – equipped with valve terminals type CPX-VTSA providing the pilot operation signals – at management level.

The pneumatics used in the new system significantly reduces noise pollution for the dolphins. Klaus Held from engineering firm Sixt, Heiß & Partner, who specialises in complex water treatment installations, said: “The electric drives that we used before transmitted noise through the piping to the pools. This meant constant noise stress for the dolphins, which has been virtually eliminated with the pneumatic actuators from Festo."