Pumps & Systems, September 2008

Named after frontiersman Kit Carson, Carson City, Nev., is known for its fresh air, rugged natural surroundings and its proximity to the casinos of Reno and skiing in Lake Tahoe. Carson City, the capital of Nevada, has been a self-governing municipality since 1972. The Carson City Public Works Dept. manages all the water for Carson City and County. Its mission is to be completely self-sufficient-acquiring, using and reusing 100 percent of its own water.

Since the summer of 1991, Carson City Public Works has been using a Wonderware SCADA software solution to manage both water purification and wastewater recycling. The biggest benefit that the utility has gained from using the SCADA software is operational efficiency improvements, which directly relate to cost savings. Carson City Public Works also benefits from remotely accessing and managing vital information in real time, leading to better-informed decision-making.

Standardized a SCADA Solution

Carson City Public Works has standardized on a SCADA software solution because it has helped the utility to achieve improvements in productivity, can be adjusted to suit their needs and is easy to use.

Dennis Maple, Carson City's control systems supervisor for water and wastewater management, has gradually enhanced the water and wastewater management system with additional software products after an HMI was initially installed. The SCADA software solution now consists of a plant historian, analysis clients and increased remote management capabilities. "Basically, here at Carson City Public Works, we've adopted [this] standard platform for utilities for both water and wastewater management, said Maple.

The Fire

In 1992, there was a huge fire in the area surrounding Carson City's primary water source called The Falls. The fire decimated much of the forests behind the water treatment facility. Since the fire was so close to the plant, it was unsafe for personnel to check the water levels. The fire department evacuated the entire area. The only way that water management personnel could tell if the plant was still operational was by checking if the software was still receiving information. "As long as I had a signal, I had a building!" commented Maple.

During the fire, the SCADA system helped the water management staff ascertain whether they needed to supplement water reserves from other areas to fight the fire or preserve the level of service for their customers until the fire was contained.

Productivity Improvements

Carson City Public Works has been able to make incredible productivity improvements since installing the SCADA software.

"The software is helping Carson City become more efficient by taking care of tasks that used to be required by people, be it transferring or compiling information. With the. . . software, these are now automatic functions," commented Maple.

Rit Palmer, water operations chief, previously had to drive across the county several times each day to get the information he needed. "Now it's a click. It's a few seconds to do what used to take hours to do driving across town," Palmer remarked.

Maple enjoys talking about the software, including its ease of use and the fact that his staff can view information "both graphically and in trend analysis."

"[The software] reveals any shortcomings of our system. We can tell if a pump is becoming inefficient or if a tank is not getting the proper water it should have, and that allows us to go back to keep our equipment working optimally," Maple said.

The public works staff has come to rely on the software, not just during public emergencies like that unexpected fire in 1992, but day-to-day. "The best thing I like about the. . . software is the time savings and the convenience. It offers the controls. I can see everything I need to see. Without the system, we're blind," Palmer remarked.

The SCADA software solution also helps top-level managers like Tom Hoffert save significant funds by not having to make additional investments in hiring new personnel. "We have not had to increase our staff on the water management or the wastewater side because we keep enhancing our automation capability," Hoffert said. As a result, "Carson City has realized about a 50 percent reduction in staff time."

Hoffert added that the software enables him and his staff to "think out-of-the box to increase overall efficiencies." Overall, he believes that "managers can make much better decisions and quicker" given the fast and remote access to accurate information provided by the software.

Remote Management

The SCADA software gives the water management staff and managers at Carson City Public Works the ability to remotely control both the water and wastewater systems and remotely collect data. "Remote management has allowed us to save a tremendous amount of labor," Maple commented.

The benefits of remote management extend beyond the plant facilities. "The personal benefit that I as a manager have been able to use is the ability to access the SCADA systems either from home or different offices or in meetings at different facilities," Hoffert remarked. "I personally like the software because I can be at home or wherever I want to be with my family and still have access to the SCADA systems. I can see exactly what's going on. During the summer, which is our peak irrigation time, I can actually go on vacation now without worrying about the level of service we are providing. All of the information is right there."

Regulatory Compliance

The SCADA software closely monitors temperatures, voltage, variable frequencies and various other metrics such as turbidity levels, which are kept in tight compliance with EPA standards. If the turbidity increases even slightly, an alarm is triggered throughout the system.

Collecting accurate data is vital to Carson City Public Works because all of its water is provided in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and adopted amendments. Of course, Carson City Public Works also complies with EPA regulations.

The server historian is an important part of this process. "Since we've incorporated [the historian] software into our SCADA system, we've been able to archive all the data we have collected. So we are later able to draw upon that data at anytime for later field analysis, or trend analysis that we do to see how well the system is operating," Maple said.

Other software has also saved Carson City Public Works time in generating reports for regulatory compliance. "The. . . client access tools have allowed us to build reports that are required by regulatory agencies," Maple mentioned. "We have to report on both the water and wastewater side. The automation significantly reduces the staff time required to produce these reports."

System Maintenance

Maintenance is essential to consistently providing clean water to the community and properly recycling the wastewater.

"The software helps with maintenance in that it keeps all of that information logged in there, like the graphs and the trends, said Palmer. "We use that information daily to see what the trends are. At any given moment, I can look at a trend for the day, for the month, for the year."

The ability to track these trends so closely enables Palmer's team to replace equipment before it breaks down and to clean it regularly, adding to the freshness of Carson City's water.

"Because we are able to anticipate problems and perform proactive rather than reactive maintenance, there are no more 2 a.m. call-ins!" added Alan Kotsull, an electrical instrumentation technician.

The Future

Pleased with the benefits they have received from the SCADA software solution, Carson City Public Works plans to expand the system soon. "Our next evolution is to further automate the system and add PDAs, wireless, handheld, clients, etc.," said Hoffert. "We will have more mobility and acquire more data to improve our efficiencies."

Maple also looks forward to the future. "[These] software solutions offer Carson City Public Works increased operational efficiency, tremendous time savings, powerful data analysis and accelerated reporting capabilities," Maple said.

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