Why Buy a SCADA System for Your Water Company

 A Diabetic Engineer’s View of Water SCADA’s

By Craig Jones (CEO of Water-Stats)
Originally presented at RWAAZ conference 10/22/2024
Latest version to be presented at RWAAZ conference March 2025

After more than forty years as a type 1 diabetic, I’ve learned a thing or two about the disease and its treatment. Now, as the head of a Water SCADA company, I have seen some striking comparisons between the management of blood sugar and the management of water.

Diabetics

When I was a college senior finishing up a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, I got sick and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. At that time, to get a blood glucose test, I had to have my blood drawn at a laboratory and wait forty-five minutes for the results.

Testing: In the early days of my diagnosis, I had to test my urine several times a day. The test strips would indicate blood sugar levels in ranges from 0 to 500+, in increments of 100. A normal person’s blood sugar should be at about 100. I would treat myself with injections of insulin a few times a day based on the results of my testing. It was a frustrating process that lacked exactness, precision, and consistent monitoring.

Out of Range Conditions: Because of my diabetes, if I over-eat I can get high blood sugar. If I under-eat or over exercise or take too much insulin, I can become low blood sugar. Without accurate and consistent monitoring, these swings in blood sugar levels can cause diabetic comas, fainting, or even death due to the improper amount of sugar in the blood. Improper control can also cause long term health problems such as kidney failure, blindness, etc. Also, my family can tell many stories about their dad (me) sometimes becoming delusional as a result of these swings.

Automation: Over the years, the treatment for diabetes has become more and more automated and precise. Blood testing (or finger pricking) now takes seconds to get a very accurate measurement of blood glucose levels. Although many people still do injections, we now have continuous glucose monitors, and Insulin pumps that communicate with each other to automatically provide the necessary insulin to the diabetic person wearing these devices. If the pump cannot automatically manage the swings, it will sound an alarm to tell the person to intervene and eat something sweet if they have low blood sugar, or take an additional dose of insulin if they have high blood sugar.

Progress: It has been amazing to see the gradual transition of diabetic treatment over the past forty plus years and experience this life-changing impact. I am grateful for the engineers and medical teams that have developed the current systems that allow most diabetics to live very normal lives and drastically increase their life-expectancies. Now my A1C levels (a blood indicator for how blood sugar levels have been over the course of about three months) are very close to a non- diabetic’s level. Consistent and accurate monitoring has changed my life for the better.

How does this relate to Water Companies

Now, if you rewind back four or more decades, you can see how water companies and their management systems have also evolved for the better.

Holding Tanks: Many of you may remember when the only way to know how much water was in the tank on the hill or on the side of the mountain, was to drive up and look at the cable indicator on the side of the tank. It was attached to a float inside the tank. Technicians only knew the exact water levels when they were physically at the tank.

Low Pressure: Water companies often did not know when system pressures were low, until customers started calling in and reporting that they had low water pressure.

Out of Range Conditions: When tanks were too high or too low, technicians would have to turn pumps off or on. If system pressure was low or high, technicians had to manually turn pumps on or off. Much like managing diabetes, technicians would gather the data, then make adjustments based on the data collected.

Turning Pumps On and Off: Turning well pumps and pressure pumps on and off required technicians to physically go to the pump locations and manually flip switches or breakers (based on how much water was in the tank on the hill at that time).

Quality of Pumps: A well pump and a booster pump’s health used to be and often still determined by its sound, its temperature, its flow rates, out of range pressures, or breakers popping off. Technicians often discovered pump problems long after the pump was dead or dying. In general, it was and is pretty hard to determine the health of a pump, other than looking at its output or checking to see how old the pump is and if it needs a regularly scheduled servicing.

Water Quality: Today, most water companies are required to take water samples and have them tested for bacteria or contaminants. Results of the testing may require treatment to the tanks or water systems to remove the problems.

What do modern Water SCADA’s provide

SCADA is an acronym for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. We generally start with Data Acquisition, and use the information to supervise the control of the system. SCADA systems automate much of the busy work that is often done by service technicians and allow them to focus on system maintenance, repairs, reading meters (if that is not automated), gathering water samples, etc. My experience working with service technicians has made it clear that many of them are spending valuable time manually checking their water devices, when a SCADA could be doing that for them.

How Do SCADA’s Work?

SCADA’s use sensors throughout a water system to gather the data and transmit it to a data repository. Depending on the size of the water company and their systems, some SCADA systems have wired or radio communications between the sensor locations and the data repository. Other SCADA’s are much simpler and communicate through a cellular modem. These require you to place the sensor collection box in a location that has a reasonable cellular signal. If the signal is weak, taller antennas can be added to help strengthen the cellular signal.

A good SCADA system should be gathering data for technicians to review remotely, without having to physically travel to monitor such things as the tank level. It should also allow the technician to configure and/or turn their pumps on and off as needed. The data gathered from the SCADA system should be easily accessible from their cellular devices and computers. This allows them to monitor the system whenever and from wherever they want. The SCADA systems should be able to collect and provide the following up-to-date information (depending on the water companies needs):

• Holding tank depth
• Pressure tank pressure values
• Amps being used by well and booster pumps
• System PSI at strategic locations
• Flow Rates
• Water quality (PH, chlorine levels)
• Chemical feed rates such as chlorinators
• Power outage
• SCADA Health status

The SCADA transmits this information from the sensors and provides the data in real-time to the technicians via the web portal. 

Other Features

Automation: SCADAs allow customers to monitor and automate their system. Consider the manual process that technicians did based on tank levels or system pressures in the past using manual monitoring and then adjustments that required regular travel and reactive care. SCADA systems can automatically turn pumps on and off based on sensor feedback. This can minimize trips to and from system locations to mitigate depth or pressure changes. It saves the technicians time, opening up their schedule for more important tasks. It gives immediate alerts when water conditions change, so that water companies don’t find out about problems as a result of customers calling and complaining about the change in their water pressure.

Alerts: Alerts can be sent as email or SMS text messages to alert service technicians of issues such as low tank levels, low system pressures, or amperage problems. SCADAs usually can be configured specific to your own system and how and when you want to receive alerts. This can help identify problems before they become serious. They help service technicians know of these potential problems (sooner rather than later), so they can do additional diagnostics and mitigate them.

Benefits

• Reduced Costs: The devices provide earlier leak detection and reduced overflow of tanks. They can determine problems before they cause outages.
  Sooner Downtime Detection and Correction: SCADA’s give alerts about potential problems without waiting until a tank is run dry or customers call in with low pressure. Knowing about problems sooner rather than later can reduce or prevent catastrophic problems.
• Remote Control and Automation: If a technician needs a pump turned on or off, they can turn it on or off remotely from their phone. They can configure settings for pumps to automatically be turned on or off based on other sensor values (anywhere in the system).
• Overall System Status and Views: SCADA’s allow users to sleep better at night because they can see what is going on with every major component in the water system at any time of day or night.
• Aggregate Views: SCADA users can see graphical trends over time to help them fine tune adjustments to the system.
• Happy Customers! A SCADA system provides more consistent system pressure for customers, thus happier customers.

Choosing the Right SCADA

Things to consider when choosing a SCADA:

• Communication: Does the SCADA require antennas and base station systems to collect the data before sending it to the website? How much infrastructure is required besides the controller boxes themselves. If the Wifi connection or cellular connection fails, how will you know there is a communication problem with your SCADA? Will you get alerts?
• Security: What kind of security protocols does the SCADA company provide? Is your data protected from cyber criminals? Does it use an APN/VPN or HTTPS for data protection?
• Redundancy: Is the data backed up by the provider? How does the provider insure your data integrity?
• Price: Can you afford the SCADA system now and in the future?
• Recurring Costs: Are there recurring costs such as annual or monthly service fees? Are they reasonable? What do you get in return for paying these service fees? What are the consequences of not paying the recurring fees?
• Installation Fees: Can the SCADA be installed by your service technicians? If not, what is the cost for installation?
• Warranty: What does the warranty cover and for how long? If the SCADA is out of warranty and the SCADA has a problem, what are your options?
  Sensor Connection Compatibility: Do you have existing sensors on your system that you want to consider using rather than replacing? Will the provider allow you to use existing sensors?
• Website Portal: How easy is it to use the website portal to get a snapshot view of your water system? Can you make configuration changes such as alerting values or sensor calibrations? Does it require a service provider technician to make an expensive service call whenever you need configuration changes or maintenance to the SCADA?
• Customer Support: How easy is it to contact the provider and get help when you have technical or warranty issues?
  80/20 Rule: If it can accomplish 80% of your needs for 20% of the price of others, it may be worth considering. You may not get all of the features that you need. What can you live without?
• Does the SCADA enhance your water system business strategy? Will it improve your process or complicate your process?
• How will a SCADA improve your customer relations? Better response times? Less down times? Better overall service?
• Iterative approach: Buy a single SCADA controller box and try it. If you like it, buy another. If not, then enjoy the one you have. Try using a single SCADA as a floater and take it to different sites for a few days/weeks. Learn what you can about each site.

Cautions

• Trust but Verify your SCADA: Be willing to make a trip to sites with SCADA sensors. Validate that the data being transmitted is accurate
  Calibration advice: Sensors are not perfect. Sometimes they need to be calibrated. Be willing to calibrate if they are inaccurate.
• Don’t set alerts too sensitive: If you set alerts for conditions that happen now and then, but generally correct themselves, then push the settings a little further to the edges of your comfort.
• Don’t ignore alerts: If the SCADA is working correctly and you have your alerts set correctly, then if you get an alert, go see what is going on. Alerts are there for a reason. Trust them.
• Adjust settings as needed – Settings occasionally need to be adjusted. Watch your system for a while. Adjust alerts to what makes sense. Calibrate sensors as needed. Sensors sometimes need to be calibrated to keep them providing accurate data.
• Don’t be afraid to call the vendor if you do not understand something. If a sensor is not working correctly, call. If you do not understand the behavior of the SCADA, call and clarify. SCADA companies support staff have most likely seen it before and can help you understand or solve the problems.

Conclusion

Much like diabetics controlling their diabetes, water companies now have many choices of SCADA tools to help them manage and automate their water companies. There are many choices available for review to determine the right SCADA system for you. Government agencies are also encouraging municipal water companies and districts to start using SCADAs. As a result, there are grants and financial incentives available to help offset the cost of the system that may be right for you. Visit out product page to find the solution that right for you.