Metropolitan Industries recently assisted in the upgrade of several existing lift station control systems for the City of Rock Falls, Ill. Metropolitan municipal salesperson Dan Howorth was on-hand to see the last of the six lift stations improved begin operation. Included within the systems are Multitrode level probes with new PLCs, including Trihedral’s VT SCADA software. This technology gives the city the ability to monitor each system on a station-by-station basis at a cost-efficient price.
Metropolitan was first contacted by the consulting engineering firm Willett Hofmann & Associates, Inc. of Dixon, Ill. for design assistance. For a relatively small city such as Rock Falls, the integration of this type of control system in its lift stations made ideal sense. For municipalities that generally do not utilize a full SCADA system, the panels Metropolitan provides can operate independently or as part of a complete SCADA system.
“Many small towns today may not have the economic resources for city-wide SCADA systems, but can afford this type of control system upgrade and gain the ability to access such locations through the internet via computer, smart phone or any device with e-mail capabilities,” said Howorth. “If you’ve got a small town has two lift stations or well sites and/or a very small plant, these are ideal because our control panels can be implemented at a modest cost when compared to complete SCADA systems.”
Another benefit of these systems is flexibility. Though the city of Rock Falls will begin operation of each station independent of any SCADA communication, these systems are SCADA compatible if customers wish to employ them into a more comprehensive SCADA system in the future. The city of Rock Falls has chosen to activate each unit using VT SCADA capabilities, but had previously developed a large wastewater plant and can now connect each lifting station to a city-wide SCADA system if they eventually choose to do so.
“Metropolitan excels at this type of ‘a la carte’ solution for SCADA integration,” said Howorth. “Our competition may only promote a complete SCADA system and focus on conducting a fully integrated (and often very expensive) system, as opposed to building a system ‘one block at a time’ or as budget and/or time allows. We offer our customers flexibility in these types of situations.”
For more information, please contact Dan Howorth at 815-886-9200, ext. 281 or sales@metropolitanind.com.
