Waste Water Treatment

A Northern Ohio Waste Water collection facility located on the shores of Lake Erie, serving over 8,700 households with a 6.5 MGD average daily flow and a maximum of 12 MGD daily flow had a combined sewer and storm water overflow system. The city had a major issue with a remote lift station central to the facility’s infrastructure. This lift station had an auto-dialer that would monitor the wet well and alarmed on a flood condition but the staff would have no additional information, and unfortunately, the unmonitored pumps had the tendency to plug up periodically. During heavy rain events the station’s wet well would overflow and residents became annoyed with the increasing frequency of their basements flooding. When an alarm was received from the auto-dialer a member of the facility staff would have to make the long trek to the lift station to verify the status of the wet well and possibly unplug the pump.  With the approaching rainy season, a limited budget and an already-busy staff, the facility needed a cost effective monitoring solution, and it needed one quickly.

For the solution, facility management turned to Data-Command.  Within 48 hours of the time the order was received, a Data-Command certified partner installed Data-Command compliant products that utilized cellular technology to interface with the pumps, existing flow meter and wet well level sensor.  This information from the station was sent to Data-Command’s data centers and the web interface was configured to display facility information and notify employees of pertinent events.

The customer now monitors its pumps to verify that they are running and at what speed.  When a pump is plugging up the flow rate goes down and the pump speed goes up. This lets them know it is time to maintain the pumps.  But when there is a problem with the wet well, Data-Command provides automatic notifications so facility employees can correct the problem before it becomes a major issue.  In addition to alert notifications, the Data-Command system allows facility management to view real-time information about the lift station, trend historical data over time and print reports for record-keeping. “The Data-Command solution is fantastic”, stated one key facility employee.  “Now when it rains I can just turn on my home computer and see what’s going on at the lift station without having to drive out there.”  By easing the burden on company resources and providing a quick, cost-effective solution, Data-Command was able to provide an excellent solution for a quality client.