Category: Water and Wastewater

Loudoun Water

Ashburn, Virginia, USA

Photo credit: Loudoun Water

Challenges

  • Modernize an existing GENESIS32 HMI/SCADA environment while minimizing disruption to water and wastewater operations.
  • Reduce HMI customization speed to reduce engineering effort and simplify application development.
  • Enhance operator visibility and usability across water distribution and wastewater treatment systems.

Results

  • Upgraded to the GENESIS64 HMI/SCADA platform with richer visualization providing a more intuitive operator experience.
  • Reduced HMI customization time by an anticipated 30–40%, accelerating engineering workflows and system updates.
  • Established a scalable foundation for future expansion while improving operational visibility and application performance.

“With the higher performance of Windows Vista, which is fully supported by our GENESIS software, we anticipate a reduction in customization time by 30 to 40%, compared with Windows XP.”

— Andy Krapf, Supervisor of Instrumentation and Controls | Loudoun Water

About Loudoun Water

Established in 1959, Loudoun Water provides dependable, high-quality drinking water and wastewater reclamation services to the unincorporated areas of Loudoun County, Virginia.

Loudoun Water controls and monitors its water distribution and wastewater treatment systems using HMI/SCADA applications. These graphically rich, web-enabled applications provide real-time visibility into system performance through flow animations, graphical representations of pipes and valves, dashboards, and control panels.

“With the higher performance of Windows Vista, which is fully supported by our GENESIS software, we anticipate a reduction in customization time by 30 to 40%, compared with Windows XP.”

— Andy Krapf, Supervisor of Instrumentation and Controls | Loudoun Water
Loudoun Water Service Area Map Loudoun Water Service Area Map

Software Deployed

For several years, Loudoun Water's HMI/SCADA system was based on GENESIS32™.

Loudoun Water deployed GENESIS32™ in an environment consisting of 15 client computers connected to centralized servers, with Microsoft SQL Server supporting the HMI/SCADA applications by providing real-time operational data from across the utility's water distribution and wastewater treatment systems.

Although the existing environment successfully supported daily operations, Loudoun Water continually sought opportunities to improve performance and simplify engineering workflows. The utility determined that upgrading to GENESIS64™ would provide a more advanced 64-bit HMI/SCADA platform with enhanced visualization capabilities and improved application performance.

Loudoun Water Service Area Map Loudoun Water Service Area Map
Operator Overview Screen at Loudoun Water Operator Overview Screen at Loudoun Water

Project Summary

In February 2008, Loudoun Water upgraded its HMI/SCADA environment by deploying the GENESIS64 suite.

The upgrade modernized the utility's visualization environment with a 64-bit architecture and enhanced graphical capabilities. As a result, the HMI/SCADA applications became more flexible, easier to use, and faster to customize.

Operator Overview Screen at Loudoun Water Operator Overview Screen at Loudoun Water
Alarm Monitoring Screen for Elklick Pump Station at Loudoun Water Alarm Monitoring Screen for Elklick Pump Station at Loudoun Water

Benefits of the System

The GENESIS64 upgrade enhanced both operator and engineering workflows by delivering:

  • Enhanced visualization with rich graphical displays and advanced user interface elements. 
  • Improved usability with a more intuitive operator experience. 
  • Faster application customization, reducing engineering effort and accelerating HMI development. 
  • Improved operational visibility through enhanced process visualization and easier access to system information. 
  • A scalable foundation to support future system expansion and modernization. 

These improvements helped Loudoun Water modernize its HMI/SCADA environment while simplifying engineering workflows and day-to-day operations.

Alarm Monitoring Screen for Elklick Pump Station at Loudoun Water Alarm Monitoring Screen for Elklick Pump Station at Loudoun Water
3D Model Visualization 3D Model Visualization

Conclusion

The GENESIS64 upgrade reduced the time required to customize HMI/SCADA applications for Loudoun Water's operational environment. Engineering tasks such as developing graphical displays, modeling system assets, and configuring process visualizations became faster and more efficient.

Compared with the previous implementation, the upgraded software was easier to learn, faster to configure, and more efficient to customize. Loudoun Water anticipated reducing customization time by 30 to 40 percent, allowing engineering teams to configure and maintain HMI applications more efficiently.

3D Model Visualization 3D Model Visualization