By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Grayson Utilities Commission discussed future upgrades to the way they monitor and regulate all the services they provide to the community at their regular meeting on August 28. Like many systems, especially those systems relying upon software and the electronics used to operate that software, time is a factor as much as what could be considered normal wear and tear.
Utilities commission director Gerald Haney told the commission that although there currently aren’t any major issues with the system used to monitor and control things such as water tank levels, upgrades need to be on the near horizon for the city.
“There is an issue that has been lingering about the telemetry and the SCADA network,” Haney told the commission.
SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) is a system with four major components that connect field operations to a central control room. It uses field devices such as sensors and actuators, programmable logic controllers and logic units, a wired or wireless communication network, and HMI (human-machine interface) that displays data, triggers alarms, and allows operators to manage the system.
Haney said, simply, the system is used to monitor things such as tank levels and filter levels.
“And that stuff is getting old,” Haney told the commission. “And the technology is out of date and obsolete. It’s getting harder to compile all that data remotely and bring it back into a central location.”
Haney said that in light of that he has been working with different contractors and different specialists in that field to try to get an idea of what upgrades would entail.
“It’s pretty complicated and very costly,” Haney explained.
Haney told the commission that when you discuss what is monitored, it sounds as simple as just monitoring the water tanks.
“And it is to a certain extent,” he said, “but there is so much more happening. You are collecting data from the tanks, you’re telling the pumps when to kick on and put water in each tank, but you are also monitoring all the different chemicals and the feed rate. You’re monitoring the turbidity (water clarity) coming into and out of the plant, and how much water is in the clear well at the plant.”
A clear well is a large storage basin used in water plants for storage and treatment before that water goes into the system.
Haney told the commission that the system also monitors when water is coming into the plant as well as when water is leaving the plant. It also monitors when water is brought in from the river for treatment.
“And all of that,” he said, “Is being communicated in a bunch of different ways.”
Some of that information, he said, is transmitted through radio telemetry like a CB (citizen’s band) over a radio frequency.
“And it is just talking all the time like an old modem dialing in, and sounds like that all the time. It’s relaying the signal from the AA all the way back to the South East over here,” Haney said. “And then it comes back to the plant, so it goes a long way.”
Haney said all of that information comes back to what he referred to as a “big brain,” or an information nexus that is connected to an assortment of “little brains.” There are all different methods of communication between these brains that basically run the system, he said.
“Some of this is 1967 technology,” Haney told the commission. “And 2001 is the most recent upgrades we have.”
“Parts are getting harder to replace,” Haney continued, explaining the difficulty of maintaining the system. “And all the monitors for display are out of date as well.”
Another problem Haney pointed out was that, although the system being used is still very accurate, the software used is very proprietary and can only be accessed through the company that owns it. Many of the hardware components are no longer being actively produced, he told the commission, and the company could only supply components from the surplus still in their warehouses. Haney told the commission that there was a need to “start fresh” and eliminate some of the components currently being used.
Haney told the commission that the quote he had secured for the “start fresh” upgrades to the system would cost roughly $250,000 and be implemented in four phases. He said he has two other companies coming to look at the system and submit bids as well.
“The last time there was an issue we had to purchase a refurnished chip from eBay, and pay overtime for six days,” Haney said. “And it’s very costly when the system has a failure.”
The upgrade should be done sooner than later, Haney recommended. Once the bids have been secured the commission will have a clearer idea of cost and time for the upgrades, he said, and can choose the best path moving forward to ensure that Grayson residents maintain their essential utilities.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
