This $2 million+ project involves the design, assembly, configuration, and installation of a SCADA system to monitor and control 51 critical wastewater lift and booster stations serving the municipality's 412,000 residents, located within a 20-mile by 20-mile service area. Read about the project. To read prior 2005-06 entrees click here. en-us http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251.html?nid=4164 Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use July 18, 2008 http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/330030033.html?nid=4164 July 16th by Stan Prutz Well, as of the 11th it has been three years since we started this project and blog. The original plan was completion in 270 days. The delay has been unavoidable, due to other required contracts for a complete system still not placed by the City. Numerous people with th… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/300028030.html?nid=4164 I am not particularly surprised to report very little has transpired since my last post. It appeared we were moving toward some action regarding the hung Phase II portion of this project. The primary consultant presented a draft of an RFP for the City's review in the past two weeks. It appeared e… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/330025833.html?nid=4164 April 30th by Stan Prutz It appears we are moving toward some action regarding the hung Phase II portion of this project. The primary consultant is presenting a draft of an RFP this week for the City's review. The scope is expected to include modifying existing panels rather than replacing them… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1390023539.html?nid=4164 March 18th by Stan Prutz There has been a lot of talk for another month on the subject of this project, but little in the way of substantiative action to report. The Phase I successful RTU vendor paid a visit to top management within the wastewater department to express their interest in the p… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/310022431.html?nid=4164 Met with the prime engineering consultant for two days last week to discuss the yet to be awarded Phase II portion of the project. Re-examined changes requested and suggested, visited newly converted lift station as well as an un-converted site to provide a comparison. Prime consultant's SCADA spe… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1380020938.html?nid=4164 January 28th by Stan Prutz Hmm. Discussed our proposal last week with the prime engineering consultant. The City appears interested in pursuing, however there is the issue of a pre-existing engineering contract on the phase in question with another sub-consultant that dates back prior to any of… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1390019939.html?nid=4164 January 10th by Stan Prutz Over the holidays we completed the central SCADA graphics and database. Moving on to completing final documentation. Still waiting on City to decide how they wish to proceed with alarm notification. The old system used a single Nextel cell phone that was given to the… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/860019286.html?nid=4164 December 27th by Stan Prutz This week we are completing the central SCADA tie in to the newly installed RTU at Pump Station 3. In the past two weeks we solved the conflicting requirements on the alternation issue with a unique scheme. The algorithm determines alternation order of pumps based u… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1860018786.html?nid=4164 Last week we completed the software and installed the new RTU at Pump Station 3. Recall this was an emergency appropriation for just this station as the old controller had failed and there were no spare parts available. Installation was completed in one day as specified, which couldn't have been d… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/950017895.html?nid=4164 November 27th by Stan Prutz Well, we had a busy two weeks preparing the public works director's requested proposal to complete the project. Recall there was the Phase II install and control panel construction contract that had never been let, preventing the other three phases of the project fro… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1300017130.html?nid=4164 November 8th by Stan Prutz A long telephone conference with prime consultant working on master plan. I sense he is having difficulty coming up with solutions that can fulfill the varying needs of all stakeholders. Tough task. I'm praying for him. The RTU manufacturer shipped the Pump Station 3… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/330016233.html?nid=4164 October 23rd by Stan Prutz Pardon my absence. My last entry talked about real progress. This has been followed with real delays! The RTU manufacturer received an order for the Pump Station 3 RTU just after the last posting, but has yet to ship. They are thorough and are doing a good job with t… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1670014167.html?nid=4164 September 7th by Stan Prutz The details have been worked out and we now have a contract in hand for Phase II installation work associated with getting the one station that is in trouble (see last weeks entry) converted to the new RTU and SCADA system. The RTU vendor was also issued a release to… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/340013634.html?nid=4164 August 25th by Stan Prutz Much has happened since my last entry. It started with 4 days in the hospital after being hit head-on by a 4-wheeler while riding my bike (on a designated bike path prohibiting motorized vehicles). Don't remember a thing about the incident except someone saying an ambu… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1720012772.html?nid=4164 August 6th by Stan Prutz In my March 28th entry I discussed the inability of the City to obtain spare parts for the remaining 38 existing RTU controllers being used to regulate level in key pumping stations. We mentioned that if an RTU failure occurred at a station it would need to be manually … http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/990012299.html?nid=4164 July 24th by Stan Prutz Spoke with the primary consultant's lead project engineer today regarding the City's waste water control system master planning. We discussed key issues and key personnel to be invited to participate in planning. We provided him information to access the pump station SCA… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/410011641.html?nid=4164 We reported in March that there where preliminary plans for the new primary consultant to develop a master plan for controls and instrumentation. So far, the City has elected to delay further work on our SCADA project until this study is completed. Delays have to be balanced against the need to sp… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1790011179.html?nid=4164 Continuing on with our discussion of items to be considered for incorporation into the master plan for the City's wastewater systems monitoring and control, this time looking more at the top three on the technical side: 4. Open architecture Recommendation: Base desig… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/80010208.html?nid=4164 So, what was missing from previous plans for the City's wastewater systems monitoring and control? Strictly speaking, there was no prior master plan for the treatment plants and pump stations—these were managed and thus considered separately.There was only loosely a plan for either the tre… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/590009259.html?nid=4164 Master planning is the focus of this and the next blog entry. This plan deals with how the control of three treatment plants will be integrated with the control system we are in the process of implementing for the pumping stations, which are located remote from the treatment plants throughout the pa… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/1280008728.html?nid=4164 Some time ago we promised to reveal our technically preferred tested vendors for the Phase I portion of this project, when this was being considered by the City. The contract was awarded some months back to a long established supplier of dedicated pump controllers (which have served the City w… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/190008419.html?nid=4164 Today Stan Prutz met with the City's staff engineer serving as special assistant to the Department of Public Works (DPW) director. He's confirmed the City will make a decision regarding how best to proceed with the remaining 38 RTUs after the primary consultant has completed a comprehensive … http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/780008078.html?nid=4164 In January we discussed the biggest obstacle to moving this project forward was getting the City comfortable that our selected open project architecture will integrate well with what is being planned for the overall $600M 15 year sewer improvement program. That overall program is still not fully def… http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/120007612.html?nid=4164 With the alarm notification software turned over to the city and with only normal charges on the invoices for cellular modem service and the data center, I will be looking for any pending items to clean up while we wait for a final decision from the city on the remaining stations. http://www.controleng.com/blog/510000251/post/380007238.html?nid=4164 This week after considerable modifications and testing, I finally released the alarm notification software to the city. The messages have been enhanced to include the instructions for walking through the process. On critical alarms which are defined as Power Failure and Multiple Pumps not Available,…