Category: Water and Wastewater, None

Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority

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Lake Dallas, Texas, USA

Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority operates 21 lift stations, three elevated storage tanks, three ground storage tanks, ten pumps on the water side (with three altitude valves), and 46 sewer pumps on the wastewater side. Working with system integrator WHECO Controls, they replaced their aging infrastructure system with GENESIS64™ and Hyper Historian™.

Challenges

  • Replace their aging and obsolete infrastructure.
  • Reduce time spent on call-outs, false alarms and failing equipment.
  • Unify disparate operating data.

Results

  • GraphWorX™64 provides improved secure visualization.
  • AlarmWorX™64 Multimedia has added alarming and notification capability.
  • Existing iPads can now be used to remotely monitor and control their system.
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About Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority

Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority (LCMUA) (http://lcmua.org), located in Lake Dallas, Texas, provides superior drinking water, fire protection and pressure, as well as maintains the goals within Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) standards in potable (drinking) water and sanitary sewer services. The authority covers the Shady Shores, Lake Dallas and Hickory Creek areas (together known as the Tri-Cities). LCMUA operates 21 lift stations, three elevated storage tanks, three ground storage tanks, ten pumps on the water side (with three altitude valves), and 46 sewer pumps on the wastewater side.
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An LCMUA Monitoring Screen Developed in GENESIS64™ An LCMUA Monitoring Screen Developed in GENESIS64™

ICONICS Software Deployed

Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority, working with system integrator WHECO Controls of Fort Worth, Texas (www.whecocontrols.com), selected ICONICS’ GENESIS64™ HMI/SCADA suite with WebHMI™ web-based real-time automation software. LCMUA also selected ICONICS Hyper Historian™ high-speed, reliable, robust plant historian; MobileHMI™ data mobility suite; AlarmWorX™64 Multimedia OPC alarm management software; and ReportWorX™ enterprise reporting, charting and analysis software.
An LCMUA Monitoring Screen Developed in GENESIS64™ An LCMUA Monitoring Screen Developed in GENESIS64™

Project Summary

LCMUA Pump Station Monitoring and Control Display LCMUA Pump Station Monitoring and Control Display
Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority had an aging infrastructure system that needed help from top to bottom. Upgrading the system was one of the organization’s biggest priorities, so that they could better maintain it. A large portion of LCMUA’s budget at the time was being spent on call-outs, false alarms and failing equipment, so the authority sought solutions to reduce these related costs. One effort involved replacing their older SCADA system.
 
The pre-existing system was actually a combination of three competitor products, which ended up providing LCMUA personnel with three different sets of operating data. In addition to requiring a unified solution for their new HMI/SCADA, the authority also required one that could handle Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) communications and interface with existing Servelec Technologies Tbox combined PLC/RTU hardware installed at every lift station, pump station and elevated storage tank in their system.
LCMUA Pump Station Monitoring and Control Display LCMUA Pump Station Monitoring and Control Display
Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority OnCall Monitoring Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority OnCall Monitoring

Benefits of the System

LCMUA immediately realized the benefits to selecting ICONICS solutions. With GENESIS64, they achieved improved secure visualization of water and sewer levels, as well as monitoring and control of potable water and wastewater, elevation, PSI, intrusion pumps, pump monitors/controls, pump failure status, and temperature. In addition to the new graphic displays and trends, the authority appreciated the new alarms and notifications provided through ICONICS AlarmWorX64 Multimedia, including voice and text alerts.

Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority required a new HMI/SCADA system that would meet their needs for quality and maintenance within their water and wastewater system without any of the issues or data discrepancies they had experienced with their previous system. LCMUA also appreciated the fact that ICONICS’ WebHMI and MobileHMI software enabled them to monitor and control connected systems through “Any Glass”, as many of the organization’s operators utilize iPads in the field. The authority now considers their visualization to be “top notch”, their alarming to be “solid”, and their data mobility to have a “very fast response time”, all of which were vast improvements compared to their previous system.
Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority OnCall Monitoring Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority OnCall Monitoring

LCMUA considers that their new ICONICS automation software has made employees’ lives easier as there are less calls asking if the alarms being seen are real or false. Managers can spend their time more wisely, managing team resources according to real-time data and thereby optimizing efficiency, improving response times and reducing downtime.

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Conclusion

Now that Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority has seen what ICONICS automation software can do, they anticipate expanding their alarming and notifications using MobileHMI. Rather than continuing to maintain a disparate, obsolete system, LCMUA made an investment in ICONICS solutions that allows the water utility to clearly plan their future.

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