SCADA upgrade: PID, supervisory control and data acquisition

-- Control Engineering, 2/6/2008

Napa, CA, and Paradise, CA – A major upgrade to an irrigation district supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system was approved in late January. The upgrade and system integration project includes the following.

SCADA improvements include upgrades to radio antennas, computers and computer controls. At a late January board meeting, the Board of Paradise Irrigation District (PID) voted to accept FluidIQS Design-Build proposal for a major upgrade to its SCADA system. As reported in the Paradise Post, the new SCADA system will help the district save money, operate more efficiently and allow for expansion of the district.

According to PID members, the old system was antiquated, and it was difficult to find qualified professionals to program it. It will take a few months to install the new system. The new SCADA system is expected to save money and energy and make the plant last longer.

"Reliable two-way communication will be able to extend the life of the treatment plant," says PID manager, George Barber. "It will lengthen the time before we'll have to upgrade again."

Speaking about additional advantages offered in the new FluidIQs design, Barber adds, "What it does now is the high peak demand is transferred right to the treatment plant. Instead you buffer it using some of your storage during that peak time and build it back when the load is low."

Because the treatment plant wouldn't be taking the brunt of the high demand on a summer day, the district would use less peak hour electricity to fill the tanks. Pumping them full at night, when energy costs are lower, saves money, Barber says. Driving to turn on and off manual valves also will be avoided.

FluidIQs designed the new SCADA system to meet the needs of PID using its 28 years of experience, saving design time and design money for water customers, says Tom Johnson, VP of FluidIQs, which designs and integrates instruments and control systems for water and wastewater agencies. The announcement was made Jan. 22.

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— Edited by Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief 
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