CASE STUDY
Upgraded Alarm Notification Prevents Problems
Peoria, AZ., learns first hand how WIN-911 software reduces response time and mitigates service disruptions
Peoria, Arizona
Founded in 1886 and incorporated in 1954, this desert city sits in the Salt River Valley and extends into the foothills of the mountains. As a major suburb of Phoenix and the sixth-largest city in Arizona, residents and visitors enjoy a wide-variety of activities, including serving as Spring Training home to the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. The city also boasts 34 neighborhood parks, three public pools, two large community parks, five dog parks, and more than 26 miles of mountain and multi-use trails.
WIN-911 ensures that our team doesn’t have to devote time to alarm screening. We receive notification that lets us know when equipment isn’t working and then a technician is sent to verify and fix the situation”
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—Ron Schmidt,
Business Systems Analyst, City of Peoria Water Department SCADA Group
Water Infrastructure
Ensuring safe, clean water for residents, businesses and visitors is critical to the city’s utilities department, which provides water, wastewater, and solid waste services to almost 60,000 residences and businesses. This includes two water treatment and four wastewater plants, over 70 wells, substations and PRVS at remote sites.
Alarm Notification
Remote monitoring software allows fewer people to monitor many more assets using devices that people already have, such as smartphones and tablets. Uninterrupted remote availability is essential to ensuring that systems can be continuously monitored.
The city knew that an automated alarm notification system would help them effectively monitor the plants, wells and equipment, and to respond quickly to any emergencies. After thoroughly reviewing numerous options, the City of Peoria invested in WIN-911, a software alarm notification system running on the GE iFIX SCADA platform. These systems allow monitoring of all pertinent equipment and water quality parameters with room for expansion.
Business Systems Analyst Ron Schmidt recently joined the City of Peoria Water Department SCADA Group and oversees the water department’s IT. Peoria’s SCADA Group provides the system to run the water and wastewater collection sites, which includes chemical treatment, flow controls, well site monitoring and basic water production monitoring.
“WIN-911 ensures that our team doesn’t have to devote time to alarm screening. We receive notification that lets us know when equipment isn’t working and then a technician is sent to verify and fix the situation,” commented Schmidt.
Aeration Basin Flow Control Gate controls the pressure and flow of air for treatment ponds and promotes biochemical oxidation of wastewaters.
Grit Chamber, grit pump and grit seal water pump: The grit chamber primary catches inorganic solids such as sand, gravel, glass, corn, and soil.
The GE iFIX and WIN-911 Interactive platforms expedite alarm changes, save time and mitigate the potential disruption of service,”
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—Ron Schmidt,
Business Systems Analyst, City of Peoria Water Department SCADA Group
Influent Pump Control Cabinets: Exterior monitoring control cabinets for the influent pump station where wastewater from the city’s collection system enters the processing plant and is pumped to the beginning of the treatment process.
Upgrade Prevents Problems
Schmidt has been involved with a software upgrade of the latest release, WIN-911 Interactive, to push critical plant alarm and event details to remote workers via SMS Text Message. The upgraded software seamlessly integrates with the GE iFIX SCADA platform while improving safety, reducing worker response times and quickly delivering information.
Two recent incidents have proven the value of the alarm notification software. An inlet water pumping station lost power and while the backup generator started, it quickly shut down, too. The team received notification about the initial power loss and received notification of the subsequent generator failure via WIN-911. These alarm notifications allowed Schmidt and his team to know about the power losses before an overflow occurred or untreated sewage became a problem. They were able to respond quicker and send the right people.
WIN-911 also alerted the team about another incident involving a power outage to a critical site that brings eight different wells into a reservoir. The alarm indicated there was a loss of communication. The team was able to respond within seconds of receiving the alarm and resolve the issue within one hour.
“The GE iFIX and WIN-911 Interactive platforms expedite alarm changes, save time and mitigate the potential disruption of service,” Schmidt added.
Aeration Basin Air Header: The City of Peoria’s Aeration Basin Air Header ensures the wastewater treatment system maintains and aerobic condition and improves the water quality for subsequent usage. This process helps get rid of bad bacteria before water is percolated into the ground water system.
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