Alarm Notification System
City of Huntington Beach
Customer Background
The City of Huntington Beach, California is a full service, predominantly residential city with a population of about 200,000 located in northwestern Orange County. The City owns and operates both the water utility and wastewater collection system serving its citizens. Their assets include 27 sewer lift stations, 10 wells, 5 reservoirs, 16 flood stations, and 9 turnouts where imported water from MWD is resold to several local cities and agencies.
The City has engaged EA through three consecutive, 3-year professional services agreements to provide as-needed SCADA integration and support to the City’s water utility department.
Project Background
Water and Wastewater system operators needed a reliable way to receive and acknowledge alarms while away from the sites. The existing system made understanding what the alarm was difficult, and did not allow for remote acknowledgment that was in sync with the SCADA system. A better system was needed to ensure accurate handling and response to alarm conditions, improved operations, and increased uptime.
EA Solutions
EA designed alerts for call out, email, and text message and determined with City staff escalation rules for making sure the right people were notified during certain events, which was documented in an alarm paging specification. The entire alarm list was reviewed and cleaned to make alarm descriptions in SCADA and callout messages consistent and coherent. After testing, the system was rolled out for both the water and wastewater operators.
Key Insights
- MultiTech cellular modems for text messaging
Key Technologies:
- TopView
- VOIP based calling
Project Metrics:
- EA’s Services Value: $75k
- Project Length: 9 months (including piloting)
