Low Flow Diversion Pump Stations
City of Long Beach
Customer Background
The City of Long Beach public works department oversees numerous pieces of City infrastructure, including automated underground runoff control stations that direct polluted surface water runoff into permissible treatment centers. These systems ensure the local beaches and surf remain free of concentrated toxic runoff. Enterprise Automation has helped the City since 2018 develop and maintain a consistent set of Low Flow Diversion sites with consistent programming, hardware, wiring, and operation.
Project Background
The Low Flow Diversion pump station upgrade project was a multi-phase undertaking, that included updating obsolete telemetry and controller hardware, creating basic site-wide electrical and functional standards, and validating all hardwired IO. Real-time data from each LFD station is securely shared with LA County Sanitation District operations staff. Each Low Flow Diversion site collects runoff during periods of low rain, which is highly concentrated with oil and contaminants from sidewalks and roadways. The collection areas then pump to treatment plants to be combined with other waste streams and properly treated, rather than find their way naturally to the ocean.
EA Solutions
EA engaged with the City engineers to first understand what pain points and issues they were having with the sites. After clearly identifying many of the issues deriving from obsolete equipment, a retrofit plan was developed based on the available budget. Obsolete 900Mhz radios were removed, as were dated Symax controllers in favor of Ethernet-based communications and modern Allen Bradley controllers. The end result has been sites that are functional, tested, documented, and consistent for operators and for engineers.