How is SCADA used at Lift Stations? A lift station's underground wet well collects untreated wastewater from area residences and businesses. A station pumps the wastewater out of the wet well through a discharge force main into a downstream system where it is eventually treated to remove bacteria and other contaminants. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) is a computer system used to remotely monitor and control operations of wastewater lift stations. Data from lift stations can be transmitted through radio waves, cellular networks or fiberoptic networks to an operator's laptop, cell phone, tablet or desktop. SCADA allows data on station operations to be collected such as pump run times, wet well levels, rain gauges, power outages, power usage, security, and pump failures. It allows remote location control of stations including the starting and stopping of pumps. Why is it so important for lift stations to have SCADA? With remote monitoring and control capability, SCADA reduces the number of visits to station sites and promotes more efficient use of resources. Data collected facilitates maintenance and repair and helps to identify inflow and infiltration, and pump capacity issues. For hurricane events it is especially important to be able to monitor and control lift station operations remotely. SCADA creates resiliency and helps to quickly identify which lift stations are in need of attention, therefore time is not wasted going to stations functioning properly. Field crews can address issues and have entire sewerage systems back up and running faster after a hurricane event. Installing SCADA at lift stations results in less sanitary sewer overflows (SSO's), which release raw sewage and impact public health and the environment. Artovia has the expertise to help public utilities develop SCADA capital improvement plans, coordinate and prepare bidding documents, and oversee installation of SCADA systems at their lift stations and other types of facilities.
Contact us at 985-900-2320 to learn more about our SCADA capabilities.
Prepared by: Bob Dale, Senior Project Manager, Artovia
Bob has over 20 years of experience with SCADA for public utilities.
